Calendar Ladies: Popular Culture, Sexuality and the Middle-Class, Middle-Aged Domestic Woman

Abstract

Using the recent popularity of the Rystone Women's Institute millennium calendar as a starting point and drawing upon a range of popular texts, this article argues that where once the middle-aged, middle-class domestic woman was seen as the negation of sexuality and 'others' were defined by their embodiment of sexuality, in the last 25 years, informed by second-wave feminism, discourses of female sexuality have shifted and been wrenched; divisions whose boundaries have become more fluid. Downloaded fromThe assertion of middle-aged women's sexuality was however tempered by the slightly sepia tint to the photographs and careful positioning, which meant that there was nothing more 'shocking' in view than the occasional nipple. The domestic setting and the charitable aim of the calendar, raising money for the Leukaemia Research Fund in memory of John Baker, the husband of one of the models, meant that it did not challenge too many discourses of traditional femininities at once (see for example Devault, 1991). Significantly, the mise-en-scene of the photographs, the decoration of the domestic sets in which they were photographed, which included an Aga and a fruit press for example, ensured that the women were clearly signified as middle class.The fascination with, and thus the popularity of this WI calendar, lay in representing the WI, seen often -though incorrectly (see Andrews, 1997) -as quintessentially English, domestic-focused, middle aged and middle class -all twin sets and pearls -as sexual and sensual. In so doing the calendar toyed with three identity formations -related to age, class and domestic orientation -that have tended in the past to be perceived as sexless. Ussher suggests that images of women are associated with sexuality either in terms of 'embodiment' or 'negation' (1997: 3). Arguably the notion of middle-aged woman as sexless is a 20th century one; the origins of domestic, middle-class womanhood as a negation of sexuality can be traced to constructions of class in the emerging bourgeois culture (as opposed to a working-class or aristocratic culture) in the first half of the 19th century. Davidoff and Hall have documented (1987) the pivotal role that middle-class women played within bourgeois culture, which was encapsulated in a discourse of femininity, focused upon the domestic, family and marriage. Concerns about inheritance and property meant that the domesticity of the middle-class 'ideal woman' left little space for her sexuality, despite being predicated upon her role as 'wife' and mother. Discourses of class, age, and domesticity, are somewhat fluid, contested and relational; the private domestic world relied upon a perception of a public world, where, in the 19th century, sexuality was seen as the prerogative of 'others'. As Skeggs points out 'White middle-class women were able to locate themselves within a pure and proper femininity, precisely because Black and White working-class women were defined and desig-

“They’re the Ones Chasing the Cougar”: Relationship Formation in the Context of Age-Hypogamous Intimate Relationships

“…In fact, frequently women are encouraged to dislike and/or be ashamed of the physical signs of aging on their bodies, and to consider themselves as less desirable than young women (Del Rosso 2017; hurd Clarke 2002; Lichtenstein 2012; Travis, Meginnis, and Bardari 2000;Wolf 1991). Furthermore, despite increasing cultural representations of older women's sexuality in the media (Andrews 2003;Lavigne et al 2013;Tally 2006;Vannier, Currie, and O'Sullivan 2014;Weitz 2010), female sexuality is still often depicted as a privilege reserved for the young, physically "attractive," childless woman (Friedman, Weinberg, and Pines 1998;Montemurro and Siefken 2012).…”

From “Chastity As a Gift” to “Doing It As a Sign of Love”

“…Whereas some authors argue that heterosexual relationships are more equal today-that is, women are encouraged to play an active role, to express their sexual needs and feelings, to have sexual pleasure and satisfaction (Andrews, 2003;Giddens, 1992;Johnson et al, 2001;Ringrose, 2011)others assert that asymmetries persist (Cancian & Gordon, 1988;Harvey & Gill, 2011;Jackson & Scott, 2007;Magalhães, 2011), mainly in specific sociocultural contexts. In Europe, studies indicate gender differences regarding sexual activity (onset and number of partners), and Portugal is the country in which this difference is most evident (Ross, Godeau, & Dias, 2004).…”

“…Tolerance of casual and premarital sexual relationships occurs simultaneously with the hope of a serious, loving relationship (Jackson, 2001); tolerance of homosexuality and serial relationships coexists with the reinforcement of heterosexuality and monogamy as an ideal (Harvey & Gill, 2011;Jackson & Scott, 2004). This coexistence of change and continuity is, as suggested by Jackson and Scott (2004), "indicative of a persistent unease about the sexual that sits side by side with an acceptance of greater sexual freedom and diversity" (p. 235).Whereas some authors argue that heterosexual relationships are more equal today-that is, women are encouraged to play an active role, to express their sexual needs and feelings, to have sexual pleasure and satisfaction (Andrews, 2003;Giddens, 1992;Johnson et al, 2001; Ringrose, 2011)-others assert that asymmetries persist (Cancian & Gordon, 1988;Harvey & Gill, 2011;Jackson & Scott, 2007;Magalhães, 2011), mainly in specific sociocultural contexts. In Europe, studies indicate gender differences regarding sexual activity (onset and number of partners), and Portugal is the country in which this difference is most evident (Ross, Godeau, & Dias, 2004).…”