Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People

When the term “ageism” was coined in 1969, many problems of exclusion seemed resolved by government programs like Social Security and Medicare. As people live longer lives, today’s great demotions of older people cut deeper into their self-worth and human relations, beyond the reach of law or public policy. In Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People, award-winning writer and cultural critic Margaret Morganroth Gullette confronts the offenders: the ways people aging past midlife are portrayed in the media, by adult offspring; the esthetics and politics of representation in photography, film, and theater; and the incitement to commit suicide for those with early signs of “dementia.”

Gullette presents evidence of pervasive age-related assaults in contemporary society and their chronic affects. The sudden onset of age-related shaming can occur anywhere—the shove in the street, the cold shoulder at the party, the deaf ear at the meeting, and the shut-out by the personnel office. Turning intimate suffering into public grievances, Ending Ageism, Or How Not to Shoot Old People effectively and beautifully argues that overcoming ageism is the next imperative social movement of our time.

MARGARET MORGANROTH GULLETTE is an internationally known pioneer in age studies and a cultural critic and award-winning writer of nonfiction, an essayist, a feminist, and an education activist. Her most recent book, Agewise, won a 2012 Eric Hoffer Book Award. She has been published widely in major media, including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Ms., Atlantic Monthly online, Boston Globe, Dissent, AlterNet, Forward, and Tikkun. A recipient of NEH, ACLS, and Bunting Fellowships, she is a resident scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center in Waltham, Massachusetts.