the embodied life course post-ageism or the renaturalization of gender体现生活课程post-ageism或renaturalization性别.pdfVIP

Societies 2012, 2, 222–234; doi:10.3390/soc2040222 OPEN ACCESS societies ISSN 2075-4698 /journal/societies Article The Embodied Life Course: Post-ageism or the Renaturalization of Gender? Barbara L. Marshall * and Stephen Katz Department of Sociology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON K9J 7B8, Canada; E-Mail: skatz@trentu.ca * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: bmarshall@trentu.ca; Tel.: +1-705-748-1011; Fax: +1-705-748-1213. Received: 30 August 2012; in revised form: 4 October 2012 / Accepted: 16 October 2012 / Published: 25 October 2012 Abstract: This paper argues that the sociology of the body must take more account of embodiment as an ongoing process that occurs over the life course, and it suggests that a critical perspective is required that emphasizes the material processes of embodiment by which physical changes in age and time are culturally mediated. We take the concept of the embodied life course as a starting point for probing the temporal aspects of bodily life, for exploring the ways in which biological, biographical and socio-historical time intersect, and for grasping the ways that temporality is materialized and mobilized through bodies. Taking the example of the biomedical reconfiguration of sexual function across the life course, we demonstrate how aging bodies have been opened to new forms of intervention that situate them within new understandings of nature and culture. Conclusions reflect on the contradictions o