'I'm not bad for my age': the meaning of body size and eating in the livesof older women

Empirical research on women's feelings about their body size has traditiona lly focused on adolescents and young adults and has been carried out within the framework of experimental social psychology. This article examines the subjective meanings of body size for a sample of 12 women aged between 63 and 75 years via an analysis of in-depth interview data. The findings sugge st that body size has a complexity of contradictory meanings for older wome n, which are shaped in relation to social discourses surrounding beauty ide als, gender identity and constructions of age and ageing. Many of the older women were dissatisfied with their body size, highlighting the cross-gener ational influence of a 'thin ideal' of size. At the same time, however, the women adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards body size and eating, rejec ting the pressures surrounding size and food. This attitude was related to the women's constructions of this stage of their lives as a time of freedom , their awareness of personal mortality, and their beliefs about the inevit ability of weight-gain as they grew older. The findings are discussed in re lation to feminist approaches to body size and gerontological research on a ge/gender stereotypes.