The older woman's body is an example of the discontinuous nature of those beings who come under the rubric of woman and, as such, demontrates the impossibility of a unitary representation of woman. This thesis explores the social construction of the older woman's body both as abject and as 'docile/useful' and proposes how this abjectification can be re-inscribed as transgressive through a de-territorialization of the older woman's body.This thesis positions the older woman's body as (un)becoming because it lacks cultural intelligibility as representative of the feminine on the one hand and, on the other, because it disrupts normative ideals of femininity and eludes disciplinary practices. Sexuality is used as a resource to conjure, construct, reinforce and validate the 'ideal' woman, a model against which the older woman is redefined as asexual. I argue that the particular technologies employed in the production of the older woman's 'docile/useful' body are those of the health sciences. A 'docile/useful' body transforms the older woman into a knowable, treatable and profitable body through discourses of health. Mass mammographic screening is analysed in order to illustrate how the biomedical sciences are employed in the regulation of the older woman's body through the co-option of health promotion strategy as a disciplinary practice. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/235319 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | O'Beirne, Noelene P., University of Western Sydney, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | THESIS_FHSS_XXX_OBeirne_N.xml |
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