No Stopping Us Now

No Stopping Us Now

Adult herstory
"This is the story of women and age in America, from the
colonies to the twenty-first century, from Martha Washington to
Hillary Clinton. There were definitely some points when getting older
was easier than others. That's always been the case, throughout
history, around the planet. "Herodotus tells us of some tribes who
worshipped their elders as gods and of others who ate them," wrote
historian Dr. David Hackett Fischer. The extremes in America,
fortunately, have been somewhat less dire."
Remember a couple of years ago we read Gail Collins' When
Everything Changed, the well researched and highly readable story of
American women from 1960 to the present? Well I've got great news.
She's back! In No Stopping Us Now she brings us "The Adventures of
Older Women in American History."
Even as many of us ask about pronouns rather than assuming he or
sheness, value racial diversity, have begun to see class issues, and
have some idea what intersectionality is all about, few grasp ageism
and its many manifestations. One of my missions in life has become
explaining why terms like elderly and senior citizen, admonitions to
dress one's age, ads on my husband's favorite oldies shows being
limited to those for medicines for chronic illness, funerals, and
cremation, and so many other things too often seen as innocuous are
microaggressions already. So when I saw the book I was very eager to
gain an historical perspective on this shit older women have had to
put up with probably ever since when Eve hit menopause.
Let me tell you, that book was all I'd hoped for and much more.
It starts with the Colonial days when long lives were so rare people
who didn't die young were supposedly favored by God over everyone else
and got the best seats in church services. Only older women were
supposed to wear dark clothes and caps, put aside what earthly
pleasures they could have sneaked in between being fruitful and
multiplying, raising the children that didn't die in infancy, and
manufacturing everything from cloth and garments to soap and candles
in their younger years, and look forward to death as the passage to
heaven. It ends up with Hillary Clinton campaigning for president in
pantsuits and octogenarian Ruth Bader Ginsburg getting in a workout
before a day on the Supreme Court bench. In between you get times like:
*the nineteenth century when industrialization was making the
household skills (see above paragraph) formerly passed on from
grandmothers and mothers irrelevant and older women were relegated to
the back pews of churches. "...with the aged, we have few
sympathies. They belong to a generation that has passed away..."
*the turn of the (19th to 20th) century when college educated women
were getting vocational options other than marriage, women's clubs
were evolving from pure contemplation to social activism, and
cosmetics to create a younger look were no longer taboo; *World War II
when a lot of Rosie the Riveter's work chums were older women,
*the 1960's when we were taught not to trust anyone over 30,
and *the 1970's when nursing home residents were being drugged into
submission and housewives of all ages were self medicating with
Mother's Little Helpers ("What a drag it is getting old.") which Betty
Friedan took as confirmation that housework is indeed horrific.
The research is thorough. There's lots of interesting
information. The book is written with humor. And most of us, whether
in self isolation or quarantine, will have plenty enough time to read
it. I think that you'll agree with me that, no matter how much work
still needs to be done in the fight against ageism, we're a lot better
off than our ancestors.
On a purrrsonal note, well there's something that is very much
stopping me now. And it's the damn coronavirus. My partner and son
got my laptop hooked up to the home router so I can do online school
when break is over. Now I have to meet up with someone at UMaine to
learn how to use zoom. Which means a ten mile round trip walking
since the kids have decided public transport is not safe enough. I SO
ENVY people who can drive! I am limited to where I can go on foot.
A great big shout out goes out to all who are working to contain and
stop the coronavirus and my sweet kitty who is helping me maintain a
vestige of normalcy in a world gone mad.
Jules and Tobago Hathaway




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