Contemporary old age is fraught with contradiction and complexity--women portrayed either as incompetent and cuddly grandmothers or as young women trapped in old bodies, images that rarely reflect how women actually see themselves. Women in Late Life explores the thorny issues related to gender and aging, including prevailing but problematic cultural expectations, body image, ageism, the experience of chronic illness, threats to Social Security and the very possibility of a secure retirement while challenging a long-term care system that disadvantages women. Author Martha Holstein writes from...

Men, Masculinities, and Aging explores the intersections of ethnicities, class, geographies, generations, and masculinities, and offers a fresh perspective on men's experiences with bodily aging, growing older in an ageist society, and navigating the virtual absence of cultural guidelines for being an aging man.

Men, Masculinities, and Aging explores the intersections of ethnicities, class, geographies, generations, and masculinities, and offers a fresh perspective on men's experiences with bodily aging, growing older in an ageist society, and navigating the virtual absence of cultural guidelines for being an aging man.