Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994 TAG: 9402270166
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by MARY WELEK ATWELL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ Just as Betty Friedan wrote "The Feminine Mystique" when she was a young married woman coping with the limited expectations for women in the early 1960s, now as she comes to terms with aging, she provides us with "The Fountain of Age."
The style of the two books is similar, a blend of anecdote and research, with much of Friedan's personal experience thrown in. Friedan always
writes as an advocate. In the current book, she argues for a reexamination of the way American society views older people. In the late 20th century, Friedan asserts, the tendency to equate age with illness makes little or no sense. She claims that Americans have an image of people over 60 that includes feebleness, senility, and nursing home care. In reality, only a very small percentage of older people either suffer from serious illness, have Alzheimer's disease or reside in nursing homes. Thus, in Friedan's view, we need a new way of looking of aging that is not based on a medical model.
The author herself experienced a certain amount of dismay when she reached the age of 60. Lacking a vision of the possibilities that come with getting older, she, like many others, faced the future with a combination of denial and dread.
The decision to participate in an Outward Bound expedition for people over 55 seemed to be a turning point for the Friedan. Not only did Outward Bound give her a new confidence in her physical and mental health, it helped her to see the freedom to say either "yes" or "no" that comes with having outgrown the need to prove oneself in competition.
Through her study, travels, interviews, and networks of friends and acquaintances, Friedan offers some new perspectives on aging. She presents overwhelming evidence that satisfaction in retirement is associated with the same things that bring satisfaction during the rest of one's life - love and meaningful work. As she advised women in "The Feminine Mystique," here she maintains that one must find work that is challenging and useful. In fact, with retirement, people are often freed to do the work they love rather than the job they are obliged to do.
Those who have found Friedan's "fountain of age" also have ties to a real community. She heaps criticism on the "retirement villages" that segregate older people from a diverse population mix, and demonstrates repeatedly that it is isolation, rather than physical illness, that often hastens the problems of aging.
"The Fountain of Age" is a timely book for an American population that is growing older. Unfortunately at 638 pages, the work is far too long for most people who would be interested and receptive to Friedan's many good ideas. The vibrant, active types who will help to establish a new model for aging will not have time to read it and will surely wish that Friedan's editors had pared her book into a slimmer, more focused volume.
\ Mary Welek Atwell is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Radford University.
by CNB