Secret Paths: Women in the New Midlife

by Terri Apter

• ISBN13: 9780393037661
• ISBN10: 0393037665
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1997-01-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton

Summary

Drawing on detailed interviews with women in their forties and fifties, Apter finds that women in midlife undergo a series of changes through which they develop a newly powerful sense of their own identity. She sees midlife as a time when women gain greater control over their decisions and a strengthened sense of their potential. While other writers have seen midlife for women as a time dominated by biological changes associated with menopause, Apter looks at midlife passage through women's psychology. She debunks the myths associated with women's fear of aging and decreased attractiveness. Though this once was thought to cause anxiety and depression, Apter finds that women deliberately negotiate an acceptance of who they are physically, and resist cultural images that marginalize them. While "midlife crisis" for some men is associated with a last-ditch attempt to hold on to their youth, for women it is an attempt to refocus their energies for the future.

Author Biography

Terri Apter is a Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 7
Preface: Secret Paths	p. 9
Introduction: Crisis of a New Breed	p. 17
Redefining Beauty and Reclaiming Power	p. 49
Traditional Women: Changing Times, Changing Conflicts	p. 78
Innovative Women: Plans, Pressures, and Resistance	p. 112
Expanding Horizons and Radical Changes	p. 150
Protesting Women: Creating a New Youth	p. 184
Changing Rhythms: Menopause	p. 201
Women Who Cannot Find the Way Ahead	p. 218
Love and Experience: What Do Women Learn?	p. 240
Love and Disengagement: Adult Daughters and Their Mothers	p. 270
The Third Shift: Passing It On	p. 301
Epilogue	p. 315
Notes	p. 321
References	p. 339
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.