Mary Ann Elston

Beyond the mask: women's experiences of public and private ageing during midlife and their use of age-resisting activities

Accounts of ageing often employ the metaphor of a mask and suggest that individuals are motivated to present a youthful image. Drawing on interview data, we reveal that women aged 51-57 years distinguish between what we call ‘public’ and ‘private’ body ageing, both of which have an impact on age-resistance. Public ageing is visible, arising from physical changes in body appearance. These changes have the potential for concealment through age-resisting activities. Private ageing is less visible and arises largely from physiological changes within the body, which were perceived by women as irreversible indicators of ageing. This obduracy of the body led women to perceive themselves as ageing and also deterred them from participating in age-resistance. In contrast to masking theories, our study shows that most women in their 50s wanted to project a socially acceptable image that reflected their subjective sense of growing old.

We are Nurses, We are Supposed to Care for People: Professional Values Among Nurses in NHS Direct Call Centres

This paper explores the interpretive negotiation of professional values by nurses working in a large public-sector organisation in the UK, namely the NHS Direct (NHSD). Reported are findings from a number of case studies of NHSD, undertaken in response to calls for more research into so-called professional call centre settings.

Donor Insemination: International Perspectives

Donor insemination (DI) is a neglected topic among social scientists. According to its editors, both established sociological experts in the study of assisted conception, this collection is the first of its kind. The reasons for this social scientific neglect must include DIs relatively “low-tech” character as a procedure (in comparison with so-called “new reproductive technologies” and the secrecy which has, historically, surrounded its use. As contributors to this book document, in the last decade the move to cryopreservation of semen in sperm banks, for example to permit screening for HIV/AIDS antibodies, has increased the technical complexity a little. And, following legislation or official guidelines, some information about semen providers and recipients and resulting offspring is now collected centrally in some countries, including the UK. But, at present, we still know very little about who has resorted to DI, …

Violence in general practice: a gendered risk?

Abstract This article focuses on the extent to which violence against family doctors in England is experienced in gendered terms. It draws on data from two studies: a postal survey of 1,300 general practitioners (GPs) (62% response rate) and in‐depth interviews with 26 doctors who have been assaulted or threatened; and 13 focus groups with primary care teams and 19 in‐depth interviews with GPs who had expressed an interest in the topic of violence against doctors. Most GPs, regardless of gender, reported receiving verbal abuse over the last two years, often interpreted as a consequence of declining deference to professionals, while actual physical assaults and threats were much rarer and more likely to be reported by men. Overall, women GPs were much more likely to express concern about violence and to take personal precautions, although younger male GPs working in inner‐city practices also had high levels of concern. The study shows how some aspects of family doctors’ work has been organised on gendered lines and how these contribute to the differences in experience of violence. We suggest that the increasing proportion of women among family doctors may have implications for these, often tacit, organisational routines.

Women and the Health Care Industry: An Unhealthy Relationship?

Peggy Foster Open University Press, pounds sterling12.99, pp 218, ISBN 0 335 09472 4 In describing health care as an “industry” Peggy Foster draws attention to what in her view is self evidently an undesirable state of affairs. She implies that industrial and commercial interests distort health care away from serving the publics--or, more specifically, womens--interests. But Foster is not referring to current moves towards creating a more “business-like” NHS or blurring of the boundaries between public and private health care. For her, these seem to be minor adjustments to a health care system already run primarily for the …