Abstract
In this study, we explored how women with varying relationships to disability and aging used photographs to represent their body image experiences. Seven middle-aged and older adult women with and without multiple sclerosis were asked to provide up to 10 photographs that represented their body image and complete a one-on-one interview. We used reflexive thematic analysis to develop themes and interpret the findings. Overall, the women expressed not only complicated relationships with their bodies, represented through symbolism, scrutiny of body features (e.g., posture, varicose veins, and arthritis) but also deep reflection linked to positive body image and resilience. These findings revealed not only the nuanced experiences women have with aging, disability, and gender but also the commonly experienced ingrained views of body appearance as each participant illustrated a difficult negotiation with the aesthetic dimension of their body image. Finally, we provide important implications of the use of visual methods in body image research.
Highlights
Qualitative research has made its mark in the body image literature as scholars are increasingly utilizing different methods under various epistemological and ontological orientations
Since the call to diversify populations studied in the body image literature (Cash & Pruzinsky, 2002), qualitative research has contributed to understanding the complexity of body image experiences in people outside the commonly explored young female university student experience
Qualitative research with White women aged 50 to 70 years has shown that concerns regarding the effect of aging on body image are prevalent among middle-aged and older adult women and that sociocultural appearance pressures are salient (e.g., Hurd-Clarke & Griffin, 2008), while other qualitative research has indicated that with age, some individuals become less appearance-focused and susceptible to pressures to conform to cultural appearance ideals (e.g., Hogan & Warren, 2012; Tunaley et al, 1999)
Summary
Qualitative research has made its mark in the body image literature as scholars are increasingly utilizing different methods under various epistemological and ontological orientations. This diversity has allowed the field to expand the populations studied (e.g., Indigenous girls; McHugh et al, 2014), topics explored (e.g., positive body image; Frisén & Holmqvist, 2010), methodologies used (e.g., grounded theory; Wood-Barcalow et al, 2010), and body image programs created (e.g., Body Image Awareness Seminars, https://exerciseandbodyimagelab.com/bias-program; Bailey et al, 2019; Bailey & Gammage, 2020). Positive and negative body image were erroneously assumed to operate on the same continuum, but interview research has shown these constructs to be more complex
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