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Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging pp 1–3Cite as

The Youthful Structure of the Look

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Synonyms

Anti-ageism

Definition

The expression “the youthful structure of the look” refers to the youthful gaze we all adopt, regardless of our age, when looking at/viewing older people. This gaze is culturally charged with negative preconceived notions of old age as decline (See “Ageism”).

Overview

The expression “the youthful structure of the look” was first used by Kathleen Woodward in “Youthfulness as a Masquerade” (1989) and later developed in her influential piece “Performing Age, Performing Gender” (2006). Woodward defines this expression as “the culturally induced tendency to degrade and reduce an older person to the prejudicial category of old age” through practices of looking (2006, p. 164). Focusing on the exploration of different forms of visual arts – film, photography, sculpture, etc. – Woodward (2006, p. 163) scrutinizes how American culture presents aging as decline and, furthermore, how age is structured by gender. Likewise, she presents the conceptualization of...

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References

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Filmography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK

    Raquel Medina

Authors
  1. Raquel Medina
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raquel Medina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Population Division, UN Dept of Economic Social Affairs Population Division, New York, NY, USA

    Danan Gu

  2. School of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, USA

    Matthew E. Dupre

Section Editor information

  1. University of Maastricht / University of Humanistic Studies, Maastricht / Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Aagje Swinnen Ph.D.

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Medina, R. (2019). The Youthful Structure of the Look. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_278-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_278-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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