THE FEMINIST ORIGINS OF THE MIDLIFE CRISIS
Authors
Schmidt, Susanne
Publication Date
2018-06Journal Title
The Historical Journal
ISSN
0018-246X
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Volume
61
Issue
2
Pages
503-523
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Schmidt, S. (2018). THE FEMINIST ORIGINS OF THE MIDLIFE CRISIS. The Historical Journal, 61 (2), 503-523. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x17000309
Abstract
This article tells the history of the midlife crisis, for the first time. Today, the idea of midlife crisis conjures up images of male indulgence and irresponsibility, but it was first successfully promoted as a feminist concept that applied to men and women equally and described the dissolution of gender roles at the onset of middle age. Although the term was coined by the psychologist Elliott Jaques in the 1950s, it only came into general use two decades later with journalist Gail Sheehy’s bestselling Passages (1976), as a concept that relied on older understandings of middle age as a welcome “release” from motherhood and domesticity. The feminist origins of the midlife crisis suggest, first, that journalistic publishing can be more significant for the history of an idea than specialists’ theories, even if those precede it. Secondly and more importantly, it sheds new light on Susan Sontag’s classic analysis of the “double standard of aging” by making visible how women used the notion of midlife change to undermine gender hierarchies.
Sponsorship
This article is based on doctoral research funded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Arts and Humanities Research Council, and Cambridge History and Philosophy of Science Trust Fund.
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x17000309
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/270001