Abstract

The present study examines women’s experiences of their physical appearance on holiday questioning whether gendered norms, focussed on the “ïdeal” body, are sustainable if women are to experience fully the health and wellness benefits promised in a holiday. While the research focus on body image has most often been adolescents and young women, this study explores the experiences of midlife and older women. Employing the feminist research method, memory-work, women individually wrote memories of recent experiences of physical appearance while on holiday and discussed them in collectives. The findings suggest that while some of the older women appear to have resisted societal directives for the body by focussing on what the body could do, rather than what the body looked like, for most, the dominant image of the body was oppressive with memories of appearance related to body weight/shape and clothing. The findings suggest that women, as they age, are confronted by gender, age and health discourses which are difficult to resist. Whether or not women can challenge core societal beliefs about appearance has implications for whether they can experience the freedom and lack of constraints popularly associated with a holiday.

摘要

本研究考察了女性在假期中的外貌体验，询问如果女性要充分体验假期中承诺的健康和保健益处，那么侧重于“理想”身体的性别规范是否可持续。虽然对身体形象的研究通常集中在青少年和年轻女性身上，但本研究探讨了中年和老年女性的经历。采用女权主义研究方法，记忆工作，女性分别写下度假时最近的外貌经历的记忆，并集体讨论。研究结果表明，虽然一些老年女性似乎通过关注身体可以做什么而不是身体的样子来抵制社会对身体的指导，但对于大多数人来说，身体的主要形象是压抑的，带有与体重/形状和服装相关的外观记忆。研究结果表明，随着年龄的增长，女性面临着难以抗拒的性别、年龄和健康话题。女性是否可以挑战关于外表的核心社会信念，这对她们是否可以体验到假期普遍存在的自由和缺乏约束具有影响。