Encounters With Aging: Mythologies of Menopause in Japan and North America

Rating:
Summary: A provocative, engrossing read.
Review: ENCOUNTERS WITH AGING is a fascinating book examining the contrasting cultural constructions of aging and menopause in Japan and North America. Lock is a medical anthropologist who has done extensive research on attitudes and practices surrounding menopause among women in Japan and North America. She juxtaposes these women's experiences with a penetrating look at the broader medical and social discourses surrounding aging in the two regions. The book serves as a revealing critique of western medical practices surrounding women and aging.

I have very successfully used the book in teaching in both gender studies and medical anthropology classes. It is long yet accessible. The introductory chapter, "Scientific Discourse and Aging Women," is brilliant, witty and cutting--and could be used as a stand-alone piece--challenging readers to rethink western medical constructions of aging and women in a new, feminist light. The book complements well another of California's recent books on aging, women, the body and menopause--WHITE SARIS AND SWEET MANGOES: AGING, GENDER AND BODY IN NORTH INDIA.