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“I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study explores how older women with low socioeconomic status living in rural Tanzania give meaning to their (aging) body in relation to the ideals of femininity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Ten qualitative in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions (N = 60) w...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen, Bailey, Ajay
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6417766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29045614
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx161
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author Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen
Bailey, Ajay
author_facet Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen
Bailey, Ajay
author_sort Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen
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description BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study explores how older women with low socioeconomic status living in rural Tanzania give meaning to their (aging) body in relation to the ideals of femininity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Ten qualitative in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions (N = 60) were conducted among women aged 60 and older. RESULTS: The findings reveal that older women perceive their aging body as “a burden.” This characterization of the body is linked to the inability of the aging body to live up to the women’s gendered lives. The conflict between their physical limitations and the desire to perform gendered tasks (internalized feminine habitus) affect the women’s process of self-identification. This led to emotional distress and subsequently threatened their survival and well-being. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that older women need to be supported through interventions that are tailored to their cultural and socioeconomic context.
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spelling pubmed-64177662019-03-20 “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen Bailey, Ajay Gerontologist Feminity BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study explores how older women with low socioeconomic status living in rural Tanzania give meaning to their (aging) body in relation to the ideals of femininity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Ten qualitative in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions (N = 60) were conducted among women aged 60 and older. RESULTS: The findings reveal that older women perceive their aging body as “a burden.” This characterization of the body is linked to the inability of the aging body to live up to the women’s gendered lives. The conflict between their physical limitations and the desire to perform gendered tasks (internalized feminine habitus) affect the women’s process of self-identification. This led to emotional distress and subsequently threatened their survival and well-being. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The results suggest that older women need to be supported through interventions that are tailored to their cultural and socioeconomic context. Oxford University Press 2019-03 2017-10-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6417766/ /pubmed/29045614 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx161 Text en © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Feminity
Rutagumirwa, Sylivia Karen
Bailey, Ajay
“I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body
title “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body
title_full “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body
title_fullStr “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body
title_full_unstemmed “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body
title_short “I Have to Listen to This Old Body”: Femininity and the Aging Body
title_sort “i have to listen to this old body”: femininity and the aging body
topic Feminity
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6417766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29045614
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnx161
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