Susanne Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226686851
- eISBN:
- 9780226686998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226686998.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Building on earlier conceptions of women’s new lease on life in middle age, the journalist Gail Sheehy made the midlife crisis known as a concept of social criticism. Although the psychoanalyst ...
More
Building on earlier conceptions of women’s new lease on life in middle age, the journalist Gail Sheehy made the midlife crisis known as a concept of social criticism. Although the psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques coined the term “mid-life crisis” in the 1950s, it only came into general use two decades later, with Sheehy’s best-selling Passages (1976), as a feminist idea that applied to women and men and challenged the work-and-life styles of the nuclear family. Chapter 3 sheds light on Sheehy’s critical engagement with social scientific research and theory. Rather than promoting academic concepts, she drew on them to bolster her own ideas. Moreover, she took a swipe at psychological and psychoanalytic concepts of the life course. Her best-known target was the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, who had formulated one of the most widely circulating concepts of the life course, the “Eight Stages of Man” (1950). Participating in feminist critiques and redefinitions of psychology—among them Betty Friedan’s appropriation of Erikson’s notion of “identity crisis”—Passages contested the psychoanalysts’ androcentric model of human development. By juxtaposing male and female life courses, Sheehy made available to women identities, activities, and opportunities traditionally reserved for men, and revalued empathy, attachment, and subjectivity for men.Less
Building on earlier conceptions of women’s new lease on life in middle age, the journalist Gail Sheehy made the midlife crisis known as a concept of social criticism. Although the psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques coined the term “mid-life crisis” in the 1950s, it only came into general use two decades later, with Sheehy’s best-selling Passages (1976), as a feminist idea that applied to women and men and challenged the work-and-life styles of the nuclear family. Chapter 3 sheds light on Sheehy’s critical engagement with social scientific research and theory. Rather than promoting academic concepts, she drew on them to bolster her own ideas. Moreover, she took a swipe at psychological and psychoanalytic concepts of the life course. Her best-known target was the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, who had formulated one of the most widely circulating concepts of the life course, the “Eight Stages of Man” (1950). Participating in feminist critiques and redefinitions of psychology—among them Betty Friedan’s appropriation of Erikson’s notion of “identity crisis”—Passages contested the psychoanalysts’ androcentric model of human development. By juxtaposing male and female life courses, Sheehy made available to women identities, activities, and opportunities traditionally reserved for men, and revalued empathy, attachment, and subjectivity for men.
Susanne Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226686851
- eISBN:
- 9780226686998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226686998.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
A favorite gendered cliché, the midlife crisis conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility—but it was first successfully presented as a concept about women’s rights. This chapter ...
More
A favorite gendered cliché, the midlife crisis conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility—but it was first successfully presented as a concept about women’s rights. This chapter introduces the feminist definition of midlife change put forward by the New York journalist Gail Sheehy in the 1970s. It examines Sheehy’s place in existing origin stories and disciplinary histories of the midlife crisis and challenges the dominant narrative of science popularization. Pointing to the focus on men in contemporary tales about midlife crisis, it highlights instead the particular relevance of life-choices and midlife reassessments for women. Lastly, it discusses the gendered double standard of aging and the literature on menopause, gender, and science, drawing attention to the relevance of feminist contributions and critical and liberating concepts of middle life and aging. In the course of the discussion, the chapter also gives an overview of the book.Less
A favorite gendered cliché, the midlife crisis conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility—but it was first successfully presented as a concept about women’s rights. This chapter introduces the feminist definition of midlife change put forward by the New York journalist Gail Sheehy in the 1970s. It examines Sheehy’s place in existing origin stories and disciplinary histories of the midlife crisis and challenges the dominant narrative of science popularization. Pointing to the focus on men in contemporary tales about midlife crisis, it highlights instead the particular relevance of life-choices and midlife reassessments for women. Lastly, it discusses the gendered double standard of aging and the literature on menopause, gender, and science, drawing attention to the relevance of feminist contributions and critical and liberating concepts of middle life and aging. In the course of the discussion, the chapter also gives an overview of the book.
Susanne Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780226686851
- eISBN:
- 9780226686998
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226686998.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The phrase “midlife crisis” today conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility—an affluent, middle-aged man speeding off in a red sports car with a woman half his age—but before it ...
More
The phrase “midlife crisis” today conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility—an affluent, middle-aged man speeding off in a red sports car with a woman half his age—but before it became a gendered cliché, it gained traction as a feminist concept. Journalist Gail Sheehy used the term to describe a midlife period when both men and women reassessed their choices in life, often abandoning traditional gender roles. Widely popular in the United States and internationally, the term was quickly appropriated by psychological and psychiatric experts and redefined as a male-centered, masculinist concept. By excluding women from their conception of personal development, the experts vetoed claims for women’s liberation. Yet the anti-feminist connotations of the new, male midlife crisis were rarely publicly discussed: backlash was allowed to parade as better science. However, this was not just a tale of defeat. In the 1980s and ’90s, feminist social scientists dismissed the midlife crisis as a sign of egotism, immaturity, and stagnation and turned it into a symbol of chauvinism. By telling this story, this book proposes a new perspective on what it means to start anew midway through. Instead of debunking or defending the midlife crisis, it documents that the midlife crisis is a historical, social, and political as much as a psychological concept. In expanding understandings of who discussed midlife and how, it makes visible the relevance of feminist contributions to discourses about choice, temporality, and the meaning of life as well as the impact of backlash.Less
The phrase “midlife crisis” today conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility—an affluent, middle-aged man speeding off in a red sports car with a woman half his age—but before it became a gendered cliché, it gained traction as a feminist concept. Journalist Gail Sheehy used the term to describe a midlife period when both men and women reassessed their choices in life, often abandoning traditional gender roles. Widely popular in the United States and internationally, the term was quickly appropriated by psychological and psychiatric experts and redefined as a male-centered, masculinist concept. By excluding women from their conception of personal development, the experts vetoed claims for women’s liberation. Yet the anti-feminist connotations of the new, male midlife crisis were rarely publicly discussed: backlash was allowed to parade as better science. However, this was not just a tale of defeat. In the 1980s and ’90s, feminist social scientists dismissed the midlife crisis as a sign of egotism, immaturity, and stagnation and turned it into a symbol of chauvinism. By telling this story, this book proposes a new perspective on what it means to start anew midway through. Instead of debunking or defending the midlife crisis, it documents that the midlife crisis is a historical, social, and political as much as a psychological concept. In expanding understandings of who discussed midlife and how, it makes visible the relevance of feminist contributions to discourses about choice, temporality, and the meaning of life as well as the impact of backlash.
