developing media literacy skills to challenge ...

Educational Gerontology, 28: 599–620, 2002 Copyright # 2002 Brunner-Routledge 0360-1277/02 $12.00 ‡ .00 DOI: 10.1080/03601270290099796

DEVELOPING MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS TO CHALLENGE TELEVISION’S PORTRAYAL OF OLDER WOMEN

Harriet L. Cohen Department of Rehabilitation , Social Work and Addictions, University of North Texas, Texas, USA

To be old in our society is to be devalued. To be old and female is to experience double oppression. This article reports on a study that examined how television both reinforces and resists the prevailing images of older women in Western society. Two randomly selected television rerun episodes of The Golden Girls were selected to use as a trigger event with members of a graduate course in Social Work with older adults at a major southeastern university. The study found that television reects societal discourse about aging by providing unchallenged images of older women and their lives. Given the power of television, educators and gerontologists must teach students to develop critical thinking and media literacy skills that challenge and deconstruct television’s images about older women and to advocate for new programming that reects more accurate and diverse portrayals of older women.

In Western society, with its division between the young and old, one of the ways that the younger generation creates images of older adults is through viewing them as characters portrayed on television. Television is one vehicle for shaping attitudes about age, gender, and ethnicity in our society. Unfortunately, the media offers limited images of older women, which does not reect the diversity of older women’s lives. Cultural stereotypes are perpetuated by the media’s portrayal of older women. Critical thinking and media literacy skills are needed to Address correspondence to Harriet L. Cohen, University of North Texas, Dept. of Rehabilitation, Social Work and Addictions, P.O. Box 311456, Denton, TX 75248. E-mail: [email protected]

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understand and to deconstruct myths and stereotypes of older women. New television programs and commercials are needed that reect more accurate and diverse portrayals of older women. The purpose of this study was to examine the contemporary images of older women on television and to build media literacy and critical thinking skills with a class of social work students to challenge the myths and stereotypes about older women.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Myths and Stereotypes about Older Women Aging is a natural process that involves both individuals and society. In our culture, which worships youth and denies death, people fear growing older. Dramatic demographic shifts have led to an aging society; however, the aging experience is not gender-neutral. In fact, although there is much diversity among the elderly, ‘‘possibly the single most signicant fact about aging is that the populations of aging persons is overwhelmingly female’’ (Beckett & Schneider, 2000, p. 302). Not only are the elderly primarily women, but their informal (including family, partners, and friends) and formal (or paid) caregivers are primarily women. Aging is a woman’s issue; however, the aging community has not paid particular attention to the specic needs of women and the women’s movement has not paid particular attention to the elderly (Friedan, 1993; Garner & Mercer, 1989; Schneider, Kropf, & Kisor, 2000). White men and ethnic elders are respected in society and their communities for their wisdom, their experience, and their contribution to society. However, white women, as they age and are no longer recognized for their biological contribution to society, become invisible (Friedan, 1993; Garner, 1999). Zita (1997) argues that the older, white, ‘‘female body is a surface for the metaphor of disease and disability in patriarchal discourse’’ (p. 8). The traditional view of aging, which dened aging only in terms of chronological years, is changing. Aging is recognized as a socially constructed concept, encompassing not only chronological years, but also biological, psychological, sociocultural, and spiritual processes, as well as cultural, ethnic, and gender differences. The social construction of the older woman has led to the subjugation and devaluing of older women to this society. According to Frueh (1997) ‘‘the old(er) woman is doubly different, doubly degraded, and doubly injured by exterior identity: she is visibly female, different from men, and visibly aging, even when cosmetically altered, different from young’’ (p. 202).

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Aging creates ‘‘double marginality’’ for women who experience ageism and sexism and ‘‘triple jeopardy’’ when racism, ageism, and sexism intersect. From card shops to policy decisions, and from media images to popular culture, older women have been objectied and devalued. These myths, stereotypes, and oppression of older women based on both age and gender limit their relationship to themselves, their families, and their communities. While this devaluation affects both men as well as women, there is clearly a difference with older women. Three examples of how older women are diminished in this society include: making older women invisible, emphasizing youthful beauty over mature looks, and minimizing older women’s sexuality. First, we have ‘‘made older women invisible so that we do not have to confront our patriarchal myths about what makes life valuable or dying painful’’ (Garner, 1999, p. 3). Older women are seen as the ‘‘other’’ and all of the fears associated with aging are projected onto the image of women in our society. However, in truth it is not aging, but how we treat older women that is shameful and to be feared (Garner & Mercer, 1989; Pearsall, 1997). Second, in a society that emphasizes youthful beauty, women lose attraction as they age. Men are valued for what they do; women for how they look. Older men are viewed as distinguished, mature, and attractive, while older women are ‘‘ugly’’ with gray hair and wrinkles (Barranti & Cohen, 2000; Garner & Mercer, 1989). Finally, older women are assumed to be heterosexual who have lost interest in sexual activity. This position limits older women’s capacity to function fully and openly as sexual beings, and minimizes them to an aging physical body (Barranti & Cohen, 2000; Garner & Mercer, 1989; Harrigan & Farmer, 2000; Holosko & Feit, 1996; Pearsall, 1997). These gender differences are reected in such areas as income disparity, living conditions, and access to health care resources. Negative images of older women are infused into all parts of our society. There is a lack of proactive and effective inventions at a societal or institutional level, including family, religious institutions, and media to interrupt and reconstruct these messages. As a result, growing older is a dreaded and feared aspect of the developmental process. Both individual empowerment and social change are necessary to improve the quality of life for older women (Garner, 1999). This article reports the ndings of a study designed to challenge the intersection of ageism and sexism on television and to build media literacy and critical thinking skills in social work students who will be working with older women. Critical thinking skills are needed to understand how and why the media portray people in certain ways and to develop strategies to interrupt and deconstruct these limited portrayals of older women.

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Images of Women and the Elderly onTelevision The communications and aging literature reect multiple voices about whether television is innocuous and entertaining, or whether it has an impact on shaping our worldview. Although Rockler’s (1999) subjects describe television as ‘‘harmless entertainment’’ (p. 91), Haralovich and Rabinowitz (1999) argue for ‘‘television’s national power in dening, transforming, and giving distinctive contours to American culture’’ (p. 8). Press (1991) makes the case that ‘‘television is one of our most powerful cultural institutions’’ (p. 3) and that it shapes and inuences women’s identities in our culture; however, television viewers can resist and challenge the hegemonic meaning of the story. The rise of the women’s movement in the late l960s and early 1970s challenged television’s dominant cultural messages that portrayed ‘‘demeaning and stereotypical images of women’’ (Brunsdon, D’Acci, & Spigel, 1997, p. 4). This stemmed from a ‘‘deep conviction that women’s oppression was very much related to mass media representations and that change was not only urgent, but possible’’ (Brunsdon et al., 1997, p. 5). Older people, and particularly older women, have often not been portrayed in very positive ways in television programs or commercials. Peterson & Ross (1997) studied the representation, both in terms of frequency and quality, of older consumers in television commercials. They raised concern about the need to represent older people in more positive and visible roles, and were disturbed about two groups of viewers— the young audience and older people themselves. Although this study revealed that older people watch television more frequently than younger people, they do not see positive and hopeful images of older people like themselves engaged in meaningful activities and relationships. When older people do appear, they are portrayed ‘‘as being helpless, unknowledgeable, disoriented, or in some other unfavorable fashion’’ (Peterson & Ross, 1997, p. 425). Negative or discounting portrayals of older people may have a harmful effect on an older person’s self-concept. It also inuences younger viewers’ awareness of the signicance of older people in the population and about how younger people ‘‘think, talk, behave and act’’ (Greenberg, Korzenny, & Atkin, 1980, p. 24) toward older people. In addition, lack of visibility of the older adult on television can have negative effects on both older and younger viewers about the role, value, and contribution of older people in our society (Roy & Harwood, 1997). Other research indicates that underrepresentation of older women compared with older men in regular roles on TV and in commercials is a reection of the sexism continued through the life span (Greenberg et al., 1980; Roy & Harwood, 1997). Also, the


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underrepresentation of African-American and other ethnic minorities only serves to further marginalize and oppress them as ethnic minorities and as older people. When members of ethnic groups are seen, men are seen more often than women, which reinforces the ageist= sexist stereotype that men age more gracefully than women (Bell, 1992; Dail, 1988; Elasmar, Hasegawa, & Brain, 1999; Madigan, 1999; Roy & Harwood, 1997). Images of women in the media have been criticized as distorting views of womanhood. A study of images of women as portrayed on television episodes from 1950–1980 found that the primary ‘‘female character did not represent a human being struggling with good and evil, but rather she represented the embodiment of good or evil’’ (Meehan, 1983, p. 111) and ‘‘temptation and trouble’’ (p. 113). Newer television programming, particularly over the past two decades, portray female characters as ‘‘strong women, single mothers, and female friends and lovers’’ (Brunsdon et al., 1997, p. 1). Similar positive changes have occurred in the images of elderly as reected in ve prime-time programs of 1989 that feature main characters who are considered older adults (Bell, 1992). Earlier television programs that had depicted older people as eccentric, foolish, comical, and stubborn have been replaced with images of older adults as powerful, afuent, healthy, active, admired, and sexy (Bell, 1992). Recent research is inconclusive about whether older people are seen as positive or negative. Roy and Harwood (1997) found that older adults were underrepresented in commercials, but when seen, they were portrayed positively. On the other hand, Peterson & Ross (1997) found that older people, when portrayed on commercials were often depicted as ‘‘impaired, weak, lazy, or uninformed, relative to younger persons’’ (p. 426). Younger and older women react differently to images of women on television ‘‘as it touches upon their respective experience’’ (Press, 1991, p. 154) because ‘‘different generations of women have come of age at different ideological moments in our culture and at times when television itself has occupied different places and held different cultural meanings’’ (p. 141). Press concludes, ‘‘older women enjoy newer television images of women in the workplace, sometimes responding to those images as though they picture themselves broadening their horizons . . . . They like seeing women in nontraditional roles and are excited by the range of possibilities now open to women’’ (Press, 1991, p. 168). Although the role depiction of women on television is changing, the same change in image to a more realistic portrayal of older women is desperately needed because ‘‘it is important to understand and to promote the very positive capabilities of the older woman’’ (Dail, 1988,

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p. 705). The negative images of, and limited positive roles for, older women in television programs and commercials may weaken their self-image and distort their view of reality. We need more positive and realistic images of older women and older adults than in the past, ‘‘to see more of them more often, and in richer, more diverse lights . . . . We need to see them spread throughout our communities, interacting with people of all ages and all walks of life’’ (Bell, 1992, p. 311). As baby boomer women move from mid-life to older adults, it will be ‘‘particularly important because the present, ongoing changes in women’s roles is [sic] creating a generation of women who are very likely to be more capable than ever before as they grow older’’ (Dail, 1988, p. 705). Society pays a large price for ‘‘neglecting older members of society and of presenting them in an unfavorable light’’ (Peterson & Ross, 1997, p. 432). The same interest in television producers that created newer television images of younger women in the workplace is desperately needed to reect the changing roles and relationships in the lives of older women viewers. Given the power of the media, and especially television, it is important to develop media literacy skills and to develop a critical awareness of how television both reinforces and challenges images of older women in this society. It is especially critical for students pursuing careers with older adults and their families to deconstruct cultural myths and stereotypes about older women. Holding on to stereotypes and biases about older women limits social workers’ ability to deal effectively with this population. This conclusion emerged from a study that was conducted with graduate students in a class on social work and older adults at a large university in the southeastern United States. Two randomly selected rerun episodes from the television series The Golden Girls were chosen as a way to study how television reects (the episodes were not studying *) societal discourse about older women by providing situations and events illustrating how older women negotiate daily tasks as well as their relationships with each other and themselves. THE GOLDEN GIRLS TELEVISION SERIES The Golden Girls ran on prime time television on the NBC network on Saturday nights, from September 1985 to May 1992. A sitcom about older women living together in one house in Miami, Florida, The Golden Girls was the rst television program in which all of the primary characters were female and over 50. The show is based on the lives and interactions of the four older women who have all


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been either divorced or widowed and are now living together to share expenses and companionship. The show won 10 Emmy awards, 3 Golden Globe awards, 2 Viewer for Quality Television awards and is the only sitcom in history in which all the stars won Emmy awards. Reruns of The Golden Girls can be seen on the cable network, Lifetime, weekdays at 6 p.m. and at 11:00 and 11:30 p.m. The show had three spin-offs: ‘‘Empty Nest,’’ ‘‘Nurses,’’ and ‘‘The Golden Palace.’’ The four female characters include: Dorothy, played by Bea Arthur; Blanche, played by Rue McClanahan; Rose, played by Betty White; and Sophia, played by Estelle Getty (Gold, 1986; Hall, 1986; Walley, 1986). The Golden Girls challenges and reinforces stereotypes about older women. Through dialogue and action, the program attempts to interrupt negative attitudes about older women in this society. The writers heighten and exaggerate the stereotypes for comedy purposes. Issues that affect women regardless of age also are addressed. In addition, each of the four female characters portrays various attributes of women with diverse personality and qualities. They are all, at times, portrayed as camp, with outrageous or exaggerated mannerisms. Language, actions, and visual appearance are manipulated to reinforce cultural stereotypes about older women (Condit, 1989). Dorothy, a 60-year-old retired schoolteacher, who is divorced from her husband of 38 years, is portrayed as stable, practical, ‘‘the intelligent warrior’’ (Kaler, 1990, p. 53), asexual, and condent. Dorothy makes decisions using her head rather than her heart, with its logical and rational reasoning abilities (Bolen, 1984; Kaler, 1990). She communicates these characteristics to the audience by her physical appearance as the tallest of the actresses, her deep voice, her practical and dramatic clothes that de-emphasize her sexuality, and her quick wit. She represents the stereotype that older women lose interest in sexual activity (Bolen, 1984; Kaler, 1990). Blanche portrays an aging Southern belle ‘‘concerned with her loss of sex appeal through menopause’’ (Kaler, 1990, p. 54). Blanche seeks intensity in relationships rather than permanence (Bolen, 1984). She represents the seductress as demonstrated by her sultry speech, her actions that reect her conceited and inconsiderate manners, and her seductive clothes that emphasize her breasts and hips. Blanche volunteers part-time as a docent in a museum, which emphasizes her social relationships and her creative energy. She constantly shares stories with the other women of her escapades with men. Blanche represents the stereotype that older women live in the past as she makes constant reference to her sexual prowess as a younger woman (Bolen, 1984; Kaler, 1990).

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The character of Rose Nyland ‘‘is Rose of Snow White and Rose Red, the blonde fairy-tale heroine who wins all hearts . . . . While she is not a physical virgin because she was married, she embodies the essence of modern virginity in her integrity and her apparent unworldliness’’ (Kaler, 1990, pp. 54–55). She comes from St. Olaf, and uses her innocence and simplicity to tell distracting and nonsensical stories of life in St. Olaf as a way to stop the ghting and bickering that sometimes occurs between and among the four women. Rose’s innocence is sometimes portrayed as a metaphor for the physical or mental invisibility of older women (Bolen, 1984; Kaler, 1990). Sophia has come to live with her daughter after the Shady Pines Retirement Community has burned. Just as Sophia was the goddess of Wisdom in mythology, so Sophia represents the crone, the wise woman in the television show. Sophia, as an older woman, signies death and darkness. She is the older woman who is wise in chronological years and life experiences, and is also the ‘‘hag goddess of death and decay, the irreverent one who fears neither life nor death’’ (Kaler, 1990, p. 56). Sophia brings her wisdom and experience together to provide advice to others by using ‘‘her tales of Sicily as parables of old world wisdom’’ (Kaler, 1990, p. 55). Her famous line ‘‘Picture this . . .’’ noties the viewer that she is about to share a story of her life, which holds within it some great piece of wisdom. Sophia disrupts the stereotype that older women are cared for by their families and give nothing in return. She also at times represents the stereotype that older women are invisible (Bolen, 1984; Kaler, 1990). Although each of the four characters is awed in some way, these four characters— Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia —represent the four phases of a woman’s life from virgin, to spouse, to mother, to wise woman=crone (Bolen, 1984; Wehr, 1987) . They each share stories of their own experiences to educate and entertain the viewing audience (Rockler, 1999). During its seven seasons, The Golden Girls was praised as ‘‘adult, literate, witty, poignant, funny and . . . honest’’ (Estelle Getty, 1990, p. 273) and negatively criticized for making ‘‘daffy humor out of all the negative aspect of aging, but cannot effectively point up the positive’’ (Anonymous, 1990, p. 273). The writers also were accused of portraying Sophia as a ‘‘caricature who blurts out rude comments about sexual and bodily functions because her noggin isn’t working too well’’ (Estelle Getty, l990, p. 273). Research suggests that viewers, young and old and female and male, construct their own meaning from television texts and that ‘‘audiences do not simply receive messages; they decode them’’ (Condit, 1989, p. 104). On the other hand, The Golden Girls, as other programs with female main characters, provided


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opportunities for critique of patriarchal values, women’s agency, and audience pleasure (Haralovich & Rabinovitz, 1999).

METHODOLOGY This paper reports on a study conducted with 19 graduate social work students at a large southeastern university who were enrolled in an elective course on Social Work with Older Adults. Focus groups were used as a method of collecting data from the participants about their reactions to the images of older women as portrayed in the four characters on The Golden Girls. The focus group was selected as the methodology for this study because the ‘‘focus group is benecial for identication of major themes’’ (Krueger, 1994, p. x). It promotes selfdisclosure and exposes stereotypes, attitudes, and biases, that is, how people feel rather than think (Lunt & Livingstone, 1996). Students might be reluctant to voice their beliefs in class for fear of being labeled ‘‘ageist’’ or ‘‘sexist;’’ however, the focus group provides a level of anonymity for students to share, with no judgment around an acceptable consensus of beliefs. Another benet of focus groups is that attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs are developed in interaction with other people. The focus group provides a permissive and comfortable environment for students to share their perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about older women (Krueger, 1994). Focus groups ‘‘produce qualitative data that provides insights into attitudes, perceptions, and opinions of participants’’ (Krueger, 1994, p. 19). I randomly selected two rerun episodes of The Golden Girls for this project. Both aired from 11:30–midnight on June 12, 2000, and June 13, 2000, on Lifetime for Women. The two episodes were shown to the graduate social work class during the rst class period of summer semester 2000. All members of the class watched both episodes before breaking into focus groups. The Golden Girls shows were used as a trigger to elicit stereotypes, biases, attitudes, and perceptions about older women in American society. The Golden Girls television program featured four white, middle class, heterosexual, older women living in Miami, Florida, and served to stimulate conversation about this particular lifestyle. The two episodes contain the following themes and issues: The rst episode was about a friend of Dorothy’s who is a lesbian and coming to visit. Her friend’s partner Jean of many years has died recently and she is still mourning the loss. Dorothy decides not to tell Blanche, Rose, or Sophia that her friend is a lesbian. They assume that Dorothy’s friend is heterosexual, which

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is supported by the use of gender-neutral name Jean=Gene. During the show, the friend’s obvious attraction to Rose develops. Another subplot is Sophia’s fascination with X-rated (heterosexual) movies. The themes include issues concerning older women as sexual beings, openness to alternative lifestyles, and loss. The second episode used for this project was one in which Rose is portrayed as her nurturing, caregiving, and concerned character, until she ‘‘dies.’’ In the episode, she relays her experience to her friends of having ‘‘died’’ and reaches ‘‘a suburb of Heaven’’ before she returns to her friends and her present world for a second chance at life. She makes new acquaintances and moves out of the house and into an apartment with two younger women as an expression of her desire to take advantage of this second chance at life that she has been given. In addition to the issues of life and death, this episode also focuses on themes of friendship and women’s issues of caring for self and caring for others. The participants in the study were 19 M.S.W. students who signed up for ‘‘Social Work with Older Adults’’ during summer semester 2000, taught by the researcher for this project. Seventeen of the students were female and two were male. Seventeen identied as Caucasian and two identied as ‘‘other,’’ including one ‘‘Pacic Islander=Caucasian.’’ The age of the class members ranged from low-twenties to mid-fties. Of these participants, 32% identied in the age range of 20–29; 32% identied as 30–39; 26% identied as 40–49; and 11% identied as 50–59. When asked about living family members over 65 years of age, students indicated that among them they had 9 grandmothers and step-grandmothers over 65; 5 grandfathers; 4 mothers, and 9 fathers. Only one participant had never seen The Golden Girls television program before; all other participants were very familiar with the show. One of the participants had been to Hollywood and seen the show taped. The three focus groups used in this study were limited in size (Greenbaum, 2000; Krueger, 1998b). Students divided into groups randomly and the groups met immediately following the viewing of the programs. As the class instructor and the researcher, I did not know who participated in each group except the one that I facilitated. All participants were volunteers and had the option of participating or not participating without any jeopardy to their course grade. Everyone present the rst night of class chose to participate. Group one was comprised of seven participants; groups two and three each had six participants. The researcher for this project facilitated one group. The other two groups were facilitated by two M.S.W. social workers who are


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employed in community organizations serving older adults and their families, are comfortable facilitating groups, are respectful of diversity of beliefs, and are knowledgeable about group process and group dynamics. All three moderators followed the same discussion format, and all three focus groups were audiotaped and transcribed (Greenbaum, 2000; Krueger, 1994; Krueger, 1998a; Krueger, 1998b; Merton, Fiske, & Kendall, 1990; Morgan, 1993). The group members were asked the following questions: What messages did these episodes convey about older women? Are these messages consistent or in conict with the messages about older women in our dominant culture? Which of these messages are stereotypes and which are more realistic? Taking each of the four characters (Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia) individually, what characteristics, qualities, or attributes did they convey about older women? How did they convey those messages? What impact do you think this program has on our attitudes and beliefs about older women in this culture?

FINDINGS: MYTHS AND STEREOTYPES CHALLENGED Based on the two episodes, four stereotypes about older women were reinforced or challenged and will be discussed below: older women dwell in the past and are old fashioned in their thinking, dress, and behavior; older women lose interest in sexual activity; older women are cared for by their families and give nothing in return; and older women are invisible. In addition, the students found that the four women connected through their storytelling, validated each other through collective problem solving, worked together to explore alternative ways of nding meaning and purpose in life, and recognized and afrmed one another as valuable human beings.

Older Women as Old Fashioned Based on the two episodes of The Golden Girls, one participant’s reaction to the program was ‘‘how older women get together and they just talk excessively amongst themselves . . . and they don’t listen to each other.’’ Another participant thought that the women ‘‘talked a lot about their pasts, which old people do’’ and that ‘‘they didn’t talk a lot about what was happening right then. They talked about what had happened in their lives.’’ In an attempt to dispel this myth about dwelling in the past, the show about the lesbian friend of Dorothy’s challenged the participants to questions their ageist and sexist beliefs. Participants expressed shock that these older women were not ‘‘more

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closed-minded and more clinging to their values’’ and that they talked about the ‘‘contemporary ideas’’ and ‘‘current concepts.’’ Another said she had thought that older women were more ‘‘catty and less supportive of each other’’ and was surprised by how the four characters interacted with each other, with care and concern for each other. Several students who either worked with older people or who had personal experiences with older family members found that older people may have ‘‘their concrete set of rules about how life should be, at the same time, they accept people as people a lot more than I’ve ever thought, you know, I mean the stereotype is that they don’t . . . . They may have strong beliefs but they also accept people.’’ Other students afrmed this concept of older women as accepting of other people. In discussing the episode which included Dorothy’s lesbian friend, they discussed the willingness of older women to ‘‘accept [lesbianism], being very clear they it is not something they are interested in or a belief that they endorse, but that they are willing to accept somebody as being different from them as long as it’s not imposed on them.’’ Another related discussion was about older people being set in their ways. The interaction in one of the focus groups moved from the stereotype that ‘‘people get set in their ways by the time they are in their 60s and 70s,’’ to a realization that ‘‘everybody likes to have things their own way.’’ A student confessed that she will ‘‘refold all the [towels] my husband folds.’’ Another student added, ‘‘I do, too,’’ indicating that these participants in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are already ‘‘set in their ways.’’ The students felt like the producers challenged the stereotype about older women ‘‘talking, talking, talking’’ about living in the past when they had the characters ‘‘grapple with some present day issues. And they did it in a very healthy way, with homosexuality, and with Rose dying.’’ The episode about homosexuality challenged the students’ belief about older women talking and listening to others by the dialogue between the characters in which ‘‘one of them would ask if she could talk with somebody and asked the others to leave. And I think that really showed a very cognizant sense of boundaries . . . I don’t know that a lot of older people have that. It seemed a very positive way of portraying the elderly.’’

Loss of Sexuality in Older Women Another stereotype that The Golden Girls challenged, heightened, and attempted to break is that older women lose interest in sexual activity. Although in both programs Blanche was the character who talked most about sex and being attractive to males, in the episode about


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Dorothy’s lesbian friend, Sophia was seen at the beginning and ending of the episode watching X-rated movies. Blanche talked about men and how to stay attractive to them, while Dorothy’s lesbian friend expressed a physical attraction to Rose. In addition, Dorothy ‘‘did not like her mother watching X-rated movies,’’ which students felt was similar to their contemporaries not wanting to think about their own parents having sex. The students discussed what messages about sexuality and older women they felt were actually being conveyed. For some, the signicance to older women is that sex is ‘‘still important to them, but the stereotype is that older people don’t have sex.’’ For others it portrayed that ‘‘older women are still interested in sex, that they talk about it but don’t do it.’’ Other students wondered whether ‘‘our society doesn’t want to hear about older people having sex. They just don’t like to hear that. It sort of turns them off, so they don’t get the permission to really talk about it, don’t want to think about it, and so it sort of puts a damper on older women or even, you know, being older.’’ Blanche was described as the ‘‘sensual one’’ and the ‘‘little sex kitten’’ who was selected as ‘‘being the one who is that promiscuous character. You know, she is a fairly attractive older woman. If you had some other person who was less attractive or older, I mean, people who watch that are not going to be as accepting.’’ Students disagreed about whether Blanche was ‘‘very comfortable with her sexuality’’ and ‘‘really challenged the idea about sexuality with older women’’ or that ‘‘her sexual escapades’’ were a ‘‘kind of overcompensation for her lack of condence in her sexuality.’’ Students on both sides of the issue indicated that Blanche represented camp in how sexuality with older women was described, using words like ‘‘extreme’’ and ‘‘caricatures.’’ Age-appropriate behavior was discussed regarding the issue of sexuality for older women, including comments that Blanche: represents the stereotype of an older woman who hasn’t let go of, or hasn’t really acknowledged her age, or appropriateness for her age. Like she still thinks that she is that hot little 20- or 30-year-old bimbette you know, even though it might be a little inappropriate now, at her stage in life.

and ‘‘she’s overdoing it on the makeup and everything and trying to look good and all that too.’’ Students expressed their belief in the stereotype that certain sexual behaviors were appropriate for younger women but inappropriate for older women. None of the participants challenged or questioned each other about whether that position might reect ageism or sexism.

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Taking Care of Self and Taking Care of Others A third issue that emerged in the focus groups was identied as the tension that women experience throughout their lifetime in balancing ‘‘how much do you give of yourself and how much do you keep for yourself ’’ (Borysenko, 1996)? Students pointed out two different examples of how this issue was depicted on the two different episodes. In the episode in which Rose ‘‘dies’’ and is then given a second chance, this struggle of how to balance taking care of oneself and taking care of others is presented by Rose’s change in attitude and behavior before and after she dies. The tension is also expressed in Rose’s character ‘‘being other-centered,’’ that is, ‘‘a typical 50s woman, possibly. You know, just pleasing everyone . . . . taking care of other people,’’ Blanche who ‘‘was all self-centered’’ and Dorothy who ‘‘kind of comes right in between them.’’ The issue of nurturing self versus nurturing others was not specically seen as an older woman’s issue, but an issue for women as a socially constructed category that they must learn to manage throughout their lifetime.

Invisibility of Older Women Sophia’s character represented both the reinforcement of certain stereotypes about older women and the challenge to other stereotypes. ‘‘In some ways she was the ultimate stereotype of a little old lady, but at the same time, she was the one who broke the stereotypes the most with her words.’’ For example, regarding the invisibility of older women in our patriarchal culture, Sophia is often made invisible by the other three women as she is told, ‘‘shut up, Ma’’ when she begins one of her parables. She is ‘‘on the periphery, saying things and interjecting into a part of their lives, but on the peripheral.’’ Students connected this to the reality of the lives of their family members when they asked, ‘‘is that the way that we treat some of our grandparents or our great-grandparents? You know, they aren’t quite up to speed with us, or . . . we minimize or discount their words of wisdom.’’ This same attitude of discounting the contribution of the elderly was reected in the students’ comments about Sophia and her purse. In every scene, Sophia always has her purse with her whether she awakens in the middle of the night, or walks into the kitchen. The students were surprised that ‘‘all of the sudden, she would come out with something that you would never expect from somebody who walks around carrying her little purse.’’ Again, as with the other three characters, we make certain assumptions and draw certain conclusions based on appearances.


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Sophia was outspoken and seemed to have some kind of ‘‘permission’’ that would allow her ‘‘to blurt things out and it was okay.’’ The students described Sophia as someone ‘‘very sly’’ who ‘‘plays a role of the crazy old grandma but is actually smarter than all of them put together.’’ Sophia is seen as someone who ‘‘seemed to have less doubt in herself. Hardly any doubt in herself. She was really pretty selfassured.’’ She is very outspoken and is seen by some of the students as ‘‘wise,’’ ‘‘a rock,’’ and ‘‘someone with a lot of strength. Her wisdom and acceptance of others was expressed in her clear answer to Dorothy’s question about accepting a child who was gay. Dorothy asked, ‘‘If you had a gay child, how would you feel?’’ and Sophia responds ‘‘I wouldn’t love you any less, you know, that’s just the way it would be.’’ Through the episode, students recognize how ‘‘we minimize or discount [older women’s] words of wisdom.’’

DISCUSSION In this study, I examined how a group of graduate students in social work responded to the images and portrayals of older women depicted in the popular television series The Golden Girls. In focus groups following the showing of two taped episodes of The Golden Girls, the students identied cultural myths and stereotypes about older women, including their own internalized ageist and sexist stereotypes. The participants did not express consistent agreement about whether the television program reinforced or challenged those stereotypes, and whether certain behaviors of the characters were positive or negative, which is consistent with Condit’s (1989) ndings about polysemy, that is, television discourse empowers audiences to construct a multiplicity of meanings about the text. For example, the students differed in their opinion about whether Sophia was respected for her wisdom or portrayed as a demented old woman who can say anything and get away with it because she has had a stroke and has suffered cognitive impairment. Different reactions to stereotypes and varying interpretations of messages from The Golden Girls serve to ‘‘dispel the myth that television is a hypodermic injection that produces a unied national culture’’ (Haralovich & Rabinovitz, 1999, p. 10). Television provides more than one presentation of characters, depending on one’s interpretation and experiences, and at times there are variations within the roles portrayed by each character. Students indicated that they did not see all the stereotypes in the same way. For example, the students identied some of the stereotypes depicted in The Golden Girls as being about women throughout the life cycle, such

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as managing the tension between taking care of oneself and taking care of others, and the importance of being connected with others. They resisted the notion that these behaviors and issues were limited to older women. In addition, the students articulated that some of the behaviors could be attributed to regional differences, such as Blanche reecting a Southern culture and Rose a Midwestern culture, again challenging a single understanding of these cultural stereotypes and myths. Even though each of the four women characters had some remarkable qualities, the students recognized the aws in each of the four characters. Not one of the four represented a totally positive and afrmative role model of ourishing and successful aging for older women in our society. Our cultural stereotypes do not depict older women as respected, wise, appreciated, or holding an esteemed place in our society. The Golden Girls allows viewers to see alternative images of older women on television and to question the existing sexist and ageist stereotypes. Dow (1996) discusses how humor is used in a similar deprecating manner about women in the sitcom Murphy Brown: ‘‘The troubling aspect of this dynamic is that laughter is linked more often to the absurdity of Murphy rather than to the absurdity of conventional expectations for womanhood’’ (p. 142). We need to support the development of positive images of older women in our society that confront the limited, stereotypical, and contradictory cultural expectations of older women, without relying solely on humor to challenge the cultural stereotypes of older women in our society. Based on the ndings of the study, three recommendations can be made. First, viewers need to be educated to develop media literacy and critical thinking skills to challenge the cultural stereotypes of older women. Second, the gap between the demographics of the aging population and the demographics of older adults portrayed on television needs to be lessened. Third, it is important that television programs and commercials portray older women engaged in meaningful activities, signicant relationship, and realistic situations that demonstrate the multiple and conicting representations of old age.

Development of Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Skills Even positive images of older people may carry with them subtle forms of ageism (Roy and Harwood, 1997). The Golden Girls is a situation comedy, which at times presents older women in nonstereotypical ways. Roy and Harwood (1997) suggest that people laugh ‘‘because this character violates their stereotypical expectations of elderly


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people’’ (p. 51). People need to be educated through television, the media, and other resources about the range of roles and responsibilities open to older white and ethnic women, and older white and ethnic men. This education needs to reect an understanding of possibilities at all stages of adult development. Brookeld (1987) states: Any attempts to help adults develop ltering devices through which they might decode, demythologize, and sift the content of media messages are valuable. In a democratic society in which television is the single most important source of information . . . the possession of some degree of media literacy by citizens is an unavoidable necessity for any kind of effective participation. It is one of the most important critical thinking activities we can encourage (p. 192).

The communications research indicates that audiences do not all construct the same meaning from texts, but that texts are polysemic and ‘‘capable of bearing multiple meanings because of the intertextual relationships they carry and because of varying constructions’’ (Condit, 1989, p. 104). Audiences need to be taught critical thinking and media literacy skills in order to be aware of television’s ability to distort images of older adults and to explore the multiple meanings of television texts. By providing new and afrming portrayals of growing older and of older adults, which reect a diversity of older women, the audience can construct images of older adults that will encourage them to embrace growing older, rather than dreading this stage of development. By focusing less on chronological age and physical indicators and more on positive social acts and relationships as reected in The Golden Girls, television can become a positive force for the process of social change by deconstructing the dominant images of older adults and reconstructing ones that better reect the heterogeneity of older adults (Condit, 1989). A training program for educators and practitioners in media literacy and critical thinking skills may include using actual television programs to dispel myths, challenging educators about their own biases, and helping educators advocate for more accurate media representations of older adults. Using actual television programs, as I did, or newspapers or magazines, can help identify negative or positive images of older women. As viewers, we have grown numb and unconscious in some ways by constantly seeing the same limited portrayals of older women or hearing the same pejorative terms, like ‘‘little old lady’’ or ‘‘she’s feisty’’ to characterize older women. We need to become more aware and more sensitive to how older women are being portrayed and challenge these images.

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Educators and practitioners need to be challenged to connect with their own internalized ageist and sexist attitudes. Although I have been working in the aging eld for over 25 years as a social work practitioner and educator, in viewing these tapes in class, I was challenged to accept my own blind spots. I realized that I have tried so hard to resolve the tension between the young-old binary by seeing the positive aspects of aging that at times I have missed the complexity of the aging process. In addition, I was confronted with my fears of loss of control over my body, of not being heard or afrmed as an older woman, and of becoming invisible. As a women in midlife, I struggled with the tension between my vulnerability and resilience, my ambivalence and anxiety about aging, and beliefs about my emotional, social, and spiritual development and my physical decline. We all have internalized ageism and sexism from the larger cultural messages that confront us daily and we need an opportunity to explore our attitudes toward aging and our own aging process before helping to liberate others (hooks, 1994). Educators and practitioners need to learn how to advocate for more accurate, diverse and positive media images and representations of older adults that provide opportunities and possibilities rather than reinforcing negative and limited stereotypes. By writing letters, calling television stations, and even talking with friends and associates, we can begin to disrupt, deconstruct, and resist the negative stereotypes pervasive in our society.

Lessening the Gap between Demographics of the Aging Population and the Demographics of Older Adults onTelevision The demographics clearly inform us that the largest growing segment of the population is people 65 and older, and that women have a longer life expectancy than men do. The Golden Girls challenges many stereotypes of older women; however, the limitations of the show reinforce other stereotypes. The show was written and produced in the mid-1980s, before we fully understood the diversity of the older adult population and the effects of interlocking systems of oppression and marginalization that affects older women’s lives. The lack of characters portraying the life experiences of older people from different ethnic, racial, and class backgrounds and from different levels of ability=disability, privileges the experiences of white, middle class, heterosexual older women and discounts the stories and the experiences of others. This only serves to further marginalize them and make them invisible. Also, there is a lack of any content addressing the spiritual nature of the aging process, as older people attempt to


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work through the issues of integrity and despair, as well as through other earlier developmental issues (Erikson, 1963). Older white women and ethnic minorities have had limited roles on television and limited role models from television, the media, or society at large for positive aging. The negative images have harmed this population by further marginalizing and oppressing them in such areas as health care, housing, nancial planning, retirement options, and family and caregiving issues, as well as inuencing younger television viewers regarding their images about older people. Television producers try to convey certain messages and images; however, the audience can produce alternative interpretations to those intended by the producers (Brookeld, 1987). Bell (1992) discusses the gap between the demographics of our aging society and the demographics on television by pointing out that ‘‘even if all the numbers were right, in a statistical sense, there would be no guarantee that television reected the ‘real’ of our society, for entertaining fantasies and stereotypical portrayals might still be seen as common fare’’ (p. 311). Bell suggests the need for television to more accurately mirror the demographics of society, ‘‘but the networks would also have to address more subtle contents such as gender, race, marital status, and health status, to name a few’’ (p. 311). Lessening the gap between the demographics of society and the demographics reected on television involves two steps: the inclusion of more diverse faces on television and depiction of these older people in more realistic situations.

Portrayal of Multiple and Conflicting Representations of Old Age Age, gender, and ethnicity are not xed identities, but are uid and continually being shaped by the interaction with the environment. Television and the media are major participants in shaping the attitudes and beliefs about age, gender, and ethnicity in our Western society, although they are not the only players. It is critical to recognize the differences between the diversity of older women in reality and the limited images of older women on television. We need to develop critical thinking skills as we ‘‘begin to wonder whether all possible interpretations of events have been given, and what biases, assumptions, and meanings are encoded’’ (Brookeld, 1987, p. 208) in the way older women are portrayed. By offering a range of older women’s characters that challenge, rather than reinforce, stereotypes of older women, there is hope that television will present a more diverse range of characters who do not rely on stereotypes for their humor, but represent the disparate and contradictory voices and

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images of older women in our society. Rather than reproducing ageist, sexist, and racist stereotypes, television should be proactive in providing more positive and desirable images of older women and older ethnic minorities. We are an aging society. Older people can be productive and contributing members of society, but a paradigm shift needs to change our thinking and beliefs so that, as individuals and as a society, we can move from only celebrating youth and denying old age to a culture that celebrates the entire life cycle. Bell (1992) suggests the need for additional research on television and aging with ‘‘more accurate and diverse portrayals of the elderly on television [which] could have positive effect on the lives of viewers’’ (p. 311). Positive images of older people, particularly older white and ethnic women, are curiously absent in our culture. As this study demonstrates, students pursuing careers in working with older women need to have the opportunity to understand how the sexism and ageism that is woven into the fabric of our culture affects the lives of both young and old. These students need to be provided opportunities to develop media literacy and critical thinking skills, which challenge and deconstruct the limited images and stereotypes about older women in our society. Using contemporary images of older adults, such as television programs and commercials, allow students to build critical thinking skills that will help them to be more effective in working with older adults. An experience like the one provided to this group of social work students needs to be replicated with other groups of older adults, such as older persons of color and older gays and lesbians, because of the limited images and stereotypes about these groups in our culture. If popular culture, as revealed on television, does not portray positive images of older women, then what role models are available to challenge the negative and limiting images of older white and ethnic women?

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