Kvinnlig för sin ålder : en intervjustudie om ålder, kropp och femininitet

Sammanfattning: The aim of the dissertation to understand how age is given meaning to different age groups as weil as in relation to the body and femininity. These relationships are examined on the basis of interviews with 25 individuals 6-99 years old. The study deal s with how the interviewees describe and perform age, and how the relationships between age, body and femininity are expressed. Norms, and in particular how norms are constructed and used during the interviews, are also the focus of analysis. Parts of Judith Butler's gender theoryare used to set up a performance perspective on the body, femininity, and age, and to discuss norms.During the interviews the individuals repeat, use and negotiate age norms. Norms for what is considered adequate for a certain age is constructed simultaneously along with norms of femininity and the body. The interviews iIlustrate perceptions that femininity should be staged in certain ways for certain age groups. It is also perceived as normal, the expectation that the body will change in certain ways throughout life.The interviews reveal how the meaning of age varies depending on the age from which the person is speaking or in regards to what age one compares with. It appears that the individuals, based on their different ages, express different ways of defining and evaluating different ages and becoming older.Same events are constructed as appropriate for girls and women of certain ages. The consequence of this is that other events are constructed as unfit. Based on these norms people risk being defined in negative ways. The study show how norms for age, gender and body interact so that people's ability to understand themselves and others becomes limited, whiIe these norms at the same time are used to create meaning and make oneself understood.