Not All Want to be Madonna: Social Representations of the Carioca Woman Over 50 Years of Age

Authors

  • Cláudia da Silva Pereira Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
  • Germano Andrade Penalva Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-026X2014000100010

Abstract

The objective of our current research is to reflect on the social representations of women over 50 in modern media. On the one hand, the singer Madonna is celebrated as a role model of youth and body for a woman her age and yet, on the other, the rhetoric revolving around Carioca women over 50 who are considered ‘fit’ does not always agree with this hegemonic and globalised perception. Inspired by the interplay between the local context and global homogenisation at work in the symbolic construction of modern-contemporary societies, we embark on a comparison between youthful “girl from Ipanema” and Madonna’s rejuvenated body. Methodologically, the choice for an anthropological study combined with the analysis of media discourse seeks to explore, among other themes, the understanding of the expression “I have age, but am not old” as well as the self-understanding of women labeled both ‘middle aged’ and ‘ageless’. Summing up, the goal of our research is to discuss just what it means to “be young” within the perspective of gender in contemporary society, through our analysis of two constructed models based on local and global representations.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2014-05-30

How to Cite

Pereira, C. da S., & Penalva, G. A. (2014). Not All Want to be Madonna: Social Representations of the Carioca Woman Over 50 Years of Age. Revista Estudos Feministas, 22(1), 173–193. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-026X2014000100010

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Articles

License

Revista Estudos Feministas is under the Creative Commons International 4.0 Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), that allows sharing the work with recognition of authorship and initial publication in this journal.

The license allows:

Sharing (copying and redistributing the material in any support or format) and/or adapting (remixing, transforming, and creating from the material) for any purpose, even if commercial.

The licensor cannot revoke these rights provided the terms of the license are respected. The terms are the following:

Attribution – you should give the appropriate credit, provide a link to the license and indicate if changes were made. This can be done in several ways without suggesting that the licensor has approved of the use.

Without additional restrictions – You cannot apply legal terms or technological measures that prevent others from doing something allowed by the license.