The Ways Women Age: Using and Refusing Cosmetic Intervention

294 Pages·2017·1.52 MB·English

by  Abigail T. Brooks

The Ways Women Age

The Ways Women Age
Using and Refusing Cosmetic Intervention
Abigail T. Brooks
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2017 by New York University
All rights reserved
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author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
ISBN: 978-0-8147-2410-1 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-0-8147-2405-7 (paperback)
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface xi
Introduction: Older Women in Cosmetic Culture 1
1. “I Wanted to Look Like Me Again”: Aging, Identity, and
Cosmetic Intervention 29
2. “I Am What I Am!”: The Freedom of Growing
Older “Naturally” 69
3. “Age Changes You, but Not Like Surgery”: Refusing
Cosmetic Intervention 96
4. “Can We Just Stop the Clock Here?”: Promise and Peril in
the Anti- Aging Explosion 119
5. “Why Should I Be the Ugly One?”: Social Circles
of Intervention 140
6. “It’s Not in My World”: Living as a Natural Ager 177
Conclusion: Taking the Body Back 195
Epilogue 219
Appendix A: Research Methods 223
Appendix B: Interview Subjects 233
Notes 239
Index 267
About the Author 279
v

Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest appreciation and
gratitude to the women who courageously and generously shared their
stories with me. It is these women, their insights, perspectives, experi-
ences, thoughts, and feelings— that inspired and created this book.
My adored and admired grandmothers, Polly Schoyer Brooks and
Priscilla Brock Baker, ignited my passion for the subject matter that is
this book. My mother, Pebble Baker Brooks, my dear friend, my guide,
and my mentor, inspired and sustained me in infinite ways, and in all
stages, throughout the writing of this book. I cannot begin to express in
words my love and gratitude for my husband and life partner, John E.
Rogers, for his boundless love, support, and nurturance for me through-
out this years-l ong process. Both of our children, Cora Rosemary and
Thomas Lee Benjamin, were born during different stages of the re-
search and writing of this book and the love, cheer, and refreshment
they bring offered just the right balance of grounding and buoying to
get me through.
Without John’s infinitely generous and loving care of our children,
and without being able to continuously depend on the love and caretak-
ing of their amazing grandmothers, it would have been impossible for
me to write this book. Thank you to John, and to Mom, and to my lovely
mother-i n- law, Ailene Rogers, for taking such wonderful care of Cora
and Thomas over these many months and years— I am beyond lucky, as
they are too.
My father, Turner Brooks, has been unwavering in his love, and in-
strumental and enthusiastic in his support, throughout the entirety of
this project. My sister and brother, Rosie and Ben Brooks, provided con-
stant support, and showered me with love, humor, and compassion from
beginning to end.
I am incredibly grateful to Ilene Kalish, Executive Editor at New York
University Press, for her steadfast belief in, enthusiasm for, and com-
vii
viii | Acknowledgments
mitment to this book, and for her invaluable editorial feedback, wis-
dom, and guidance throughout. I am most appreciative of the excellent
feedback I received from my anonymous reviewers. Caelyn Cobb, As-
sistant Editor at NYU Press, was instrumental in shepherding this book
to completion, and generously shared vital expertise and assistance from
beginning to end. Managing Editor of Production and Design at NYU
Press, Dorothea Stillman Halliday, and her outstanding team, provided
exceptional guidance and oversight in the final stages.
I treasure my friendships with Ann Woodruff and Laney Nielson,
who tirelessly shared with me their love, insights, confidence, support,
and perspectives throughout this long process. My wonderful friend,
Leah Schmalzbauer, was incredibly generous with her love, support, and
mentorship every step of the way. My friendships with Meika Loe and
Deborah Piatelli were instrumental, and much- relied- upon, sources of
support, guidance, nurturance, and humor over the course of this long
journey. I am also grateful to Kelly Joyce, Patricia Arend, and Aimee
Vanwagenen for their encouragement and helpful feedback at various
stages of this project. Thanks go, too, to Liz Barragato and Erma Vizenor
for their fundamental belief in me, for their nurturance and skilled guid-
ance, and for their clear- eyed vision that proved essential to my moving
forward.
Stephen Pfohl, I thank you for believing in this project from the be-
ginning to end, for your inspiring and brilliant teaching and scholarship,
for your unwavering support, invaluable feedback, and guidance, and for
your friendship. Juliet Schor, I thank you for the instrumental insights,
advice, and wisdom you provided me in crucial stages of this project,
for teaching me to be a better writer, and for your continuing and most
generous mentorship. David Karp, I thank you for being an inspiration
to me as a teacher, way back when I was a TA for your Introduction to
Sociology class, for your invaluable feedback and support, and for your
scholarship, the epitome of exemplary qualitative research. I would also
like to thank Diane Vaughan and Arthur Kroker, who provided pivotal
encouragement in the very early stages of this project, and Sharlene
Hesse- Biber, who provided excellent feedback at various stages, as well.
I am grateful, too, to Margaret Morganroth Gullette, for her interest in
my work, for her insights and feedback, and for her own inspiring and
path- breaking work as a feminist age studies scholar.
Acknowledgments | ix
I am very lucky to call Providence College my institutional home,
and I am grateful for my wonderful colleagues and friends in the So-
ciology Department, and in the Women’s Studies Program, here. Mau-
reen Outlaw and Charlotte O’Kelly, of the Sociology Department and
the Women’s Studies Program, and Eric Hirsch and Cedric de Leon, of
the Sociology Department, have been especially supportive. My heart-
felt thanks to the first and founding members of the Providence Col-
lege Women’s Studies Program whom I have had the honor of working
with: Jane Lunin Perel, Mary Anne Sedney, Deborah Johnson, Wendy
Oliver, Carmen Rolon, and again, Charlotte O’Kelly—t o each of you, I
remain infinitively appreciative of your support, wisdom, guidance, and
friendship.
I thank the Director of the Black Studies Program, and my colleague
in women’s studies, Julia Jordan-Z achery, for her invaluable advice and
encouragement. I am also indebted to my colleague in women’s studies,
Gloria- Jean Masciarotte, for her inspiration, much- relied- upon knowl-
edge and expertise, and for her friendship. Enthusiastic thanks also go
to women’s studies faculty Mary Bellhouse, Elizabeth Bridgham, Jenni-
fer Illuzzi, Jessica Mulligan, and Tuire Valkeakari; to Professor Emerita,
Jo-A nne Ruggiero; and to Tuba Agartan and Deborah Levine. Cindy
Walker of the Women’s Studies Program remains a treasured and es-
sential source of expertise, assistance, support, and friendship. I thank
Marcia Battle, of the Sociology Department, for her compassion, humor,
and friendship. I am grateful to Beth Macleer, of O’Neill Library at Bos-
ton College, and Julie de Cesare and Mark Caprio, of Phillips Memorial
Library at Providence College, for their research support and assistance.
I am an incredibly appreciative recipient of the Providence College pre-
tenure, one- semester, research leave.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my students in both so-
ciology and women’s studies—f irst, at Boston College, and now, at
Providence College— for their inspiration, enthusiasm, and invigo-
rating relationships of mutual learning and critical thinking. I never
cease to be energized by my students—b oth inside and outside of the
classroom— and my relationships with current students, and with for-
mer students well after graduation and into their rich, varied, and im-
portant post- college pursuits, provide me an endless source of joy and
inspiration.