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OURSELVES GROWING OLDER: Women Aging with Knowledge and Power by Paula Brown & Diana Laskin Siegal Doress

OURSELVES GROWING OLDER: Women Aging with Knowledge and Power

By

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 1987
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

General encouragement for women in the ""second half of life,"" by way of advice on health, relationships and illness; some readers may find the prevailing tone relentlessly strident. The authors produced this work ""in cooperation"" with the Boston Women's Health Book Collective; certainly the overall feeling is in line with Our Bodies, Our Selves. ""At present,"" say the authors, ""we're caught within the confines of an impossible health care system, filled with absurdities and based upon an economic underpinning that distorts it into grotesque shapes,"" To change this, we first must become knowledgeable about health, and then must take control over whatever aspects of our own health care possible. With that as a starting point, the authors go on to provide good basics on a number of topics, along with loads of encouragement on taking charge for better health. First, they cover some aspects of ""Aging Well"": ""Habits Worth Changing"" (smoking, for one), consideration of cosmetic surgery, nutrition (a chapter on weight control is, commendably, shorter than one on general nutrition information). The second section, ""Living With Ourselves and Others As We Age,"" looks at such social issues as sexuality, relationships, housing/living arrangements, and money matters: the latter really addresses those relatively well off who need help managing their money. Tips on budget planning don't adequately address the plight of those near destitution, alone and over working age. Finally, the authors give concise advice on ""Understanding, Preventing, and Managing Medical Problems,"" ranging from osteoporosis to cancer to gallstones. Lots of encouragement, then, but more practical assistance on a wider range of living situations would have helped with the problems of a wider range of readership. The strongly feminist tone may still be a turn-off for many older readers.