Red Hat Society Research Articles

Rebellious eating: older women misbehaving through indulgence

Purpose Food rituals are an ever present part of consumers’ lives that have practical implications for well-being. This paper aims to explore how food and its relationship to pleasure evolve, as women navigate social norms around gender and aging. Design/methodology/approach Ethnographic data were collected using in-depth interviews and participant observations of members of the Red Hat Society (RHS) across 27 months. This approach provided a more nuanced perspective on how food experiences shape consumption rituals and communal ties over time. Findings Older women in the RHS eat rebelliously when they break social norms of gender and aging by indulging together in food and drink. Their rituals of rebellious eating have implications on well-being, heightening their experiential pleasure of food and conviviality and forging social support and a sense of community. The dark side of personal indulgence is explored within a larger framework of food well-being. Originality/value This study shows how older women challenge social expectations around age and gender through food pleasure rituals. The concept of rebellious eating is introduced to conceptualize how these older women rethink aging and indulgence within a supportive community of consumption and integrate the concepts into their personal narratives.

The effect of social support on resilience growth among women in the Red Hat Society

According to the convoy model of social relations, older adults who maintain positive social relationships, especially older women, thrive and lead happier, healthier lives. Studies have fully examined the role of friendships among Red Hat Society (RHS) members and found a positive influence from these social relations. This study focused on the dynamic nature of social support within the RHS social network, and examined the effect of RHS membership on older women’s resilience growth. Multilevel model analysis was conducted, and the results of the 12-wave monthly study (N = 156, age more than 50 years) conducted from October 2010 to September 2011 demonstrated that receiving increasing social support from RHS friends improved participants’ resilience. The results increased the knowledge of the convoy model of social relations and demonstrate that resilience could be the positive outcome of the social convoy.

The Longitudinal Association Between Playfulness and Resilience in Older Women Engaged in The Red Hat Society

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between playfulness and resilience in women over the age of 50 who were participating in The Red Hat Society (RHS), a leisure group for older women. The Broaden-and-Build Theory (Fredrickson, 2001), which describes the benefits of positive emotions, was used as a rationale to test the proposition that playfulness through leisure activities, such as those enjoyed in the RHS, can contribute to resilience in later life. Longitudinal data were collected online from 167 RHS members, and multilevel modeling (MLM) employed in the data analysis to see if playfulness contributed to these women's resilience, while controlling for age, education, marital status, years of RHS membership, physical and mental health. The results indicated that playfulness contributed to the women's resilience growth over time, and that this relationship differed by persons. The results supported the Broaden-and-Build Theory regarding the positive effects of playfulness on resilience growth. The findings suggested that frequent experiences of playfulness can facilitate resilience in older women who participate in the unique social context of The Red Hat Society.

The effect of political generation on identity and social change: Age cohort consequences

ABSTRACTIn this article, we explore how political generation affects the ways in which diverse individuals come together and change their social and personal identities. Drawing on 52 in-depth interviews with members of the Red Hat Society, we show that women draw on their political generation, and the gains of the women’s movement specifically, to oppose cultural constructions of aging. The Red Hat Society provides a “free space” for women to foster a collective identity that both visibly challenges aging norms and provides its members new standards for self-approval. We conclude by highlighting the importance of focusing on political generation to understand collective action over the life course and call for more scholarship on the function of political generation in social change.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Too): Complicating the Study of Femininity and Women's Leisure

AbstractSociology is the study of society. However, not all aspects of society get the same scholarly attention by academics. Throughout my research program, I have highlighted some of the lesser‐covered areas of society, like feminine leisure seen in activities such as quilting, knitting, and membership in the Red Hat Society. In this article, I discuss how the development of sociology as a discipline has focused on public matters in society like the economy, leaving non‐economic or private activities with less attention. My research on women's feminine leisure from a third‐wave feminism perspective importantly addresses a gap in the discipline.

‘It's our turn to play’: performance of girlhood as a collective response to gendered ageism

ABSTRACTIn our society that values men over women and youth over old age, sexism and ageism intersect to erode women's status more rapidly and severely than men's. However, limited attention is given to women's responses to their devaluation, particularly collective efforts to either resist or accommodate dominant beliefs about ageing women. We examine membership in the Red Hat Society, an international organisation for middle-aged and older women, as a response to gendered ageism. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with members (N = 52), our analysis focuses on the group's ‘performance of girlhood’, which involves adopting children's social roles, dressing up and playing. We examine its resonance with a dominant cultural metaphor for old age as ‘second childhood’, illustrating how it not only provides opportunities for resistance to gendered ageism but also contributes to its entrenchment. The behaviours constitute a performative act that resists gendered ageism by increasing ageing women's visibility and asserting their right to leisure. However, its accommodative features reproduce inequality by valuing youth over old age and depicting older women as girls engaging in frivolous activities, which can be seen as obstructing social change.

Negotiating Gender through Fun and Play

The Red Hat Society (RHS) is a relatively new and international women’s network that offers “fun” and “friendship” specifically for women over fifty. Its members, the Red Hatters, are easily recognized in the streets by their red hats and otherwise purple attire, giving the RHS its unique flavor of leisure combined with expressive public performance. In this article, we use interviews and observations to study how the fun experiences aimed at by the RHS are articulated with negotiations of gender and age. Our analysis directed us toward a contradictory and multilayered expression of feminism and femininity entrenched in RHS performance. While some of the Red Hatters explicitly identified with feminism using RHS performance as a means to “undo” gender, others identified more with traditional femininity, using it to “do” gender instead. We introduce the concept of “radical femininity” to show how the Red Hatters continuously negotiate the volatile space between these two broad societal discourses that position women in contradictory ways. Furthermore, we show how Red Hatters draw upon fantasy as embodied in play to negotiate this space.

Changing Perceptions, Changing Conditions: The Material Rhetoric of the Red Hat Society

The Red Hat Society, an international social club for women over age fifty, offers its members a social outlet during aging. Departing from a common focus on members' emotional health, a rhetorical lens on the red and purple hats and costumes the women wear offers a new consideration of the groups' value. Particularly, the creation and donning of “regalia” by members of a Rhode Island chapter constitute instances of material rhetoric, or texts that challenge public perceptions of aging women and provide rhetorical opportunities that aging women take to change the conditions of their own and other women's lives.

Performing the ‘fun’ self: How members of the Red Hat Society negotiate cultural discourses of femininity and ageing

Since its foundation in 1998 the ‘Red Hat Society’ (RHS) has become a popular international movement of women aged over 50 that is known for its distinct group performances. Red Hatters show up in public spaces wearing red hats, purple clothing and sometimes red gloves, and engage in various fun and frivolous activities. Previous studies about the RHS have found that its main appeal is that it creates an escape from women’s day-to-day life experiences. However, such outcomes ignore the fact that the RHS’s appeal is motivated also by the particular life histories of its members. To explore the relevance of these life histories, interviews were conducted with RHS members in The Netherlands. The findings show that to understand the cultural meaning of the RHS it is necessary to include a diachronic dimension in the research, articulating members’ current negotiations of femininity and ageing with those of their past.

“It's your badge of inclusion”: The Red Hat Society as a gendered subculture of aging

Although studies document the health-enhancing effects of social engagement, they reveal little about the underlying mechanisms operating within specific organizational contexts. Limited attention is given to the role of inequality – particularly age and gender – in shaping either the organizations to which we belong or their consequences for our well-being. We address this issue by examining the Red Hat Society, a social organization for middle-aged and older women. Interviews with members (n=52) illustrate how age and gender inequality interact to shape the organization, which can be viewed as a gendered subculture of aging. Drawing on this framework, we discuss four processes through which participation generates benefits for older women involved in age- and gender-segregated organizations: enhancing social networks, countering invisibility, creating positive frames for aging experiences, and promoting youthful identities.

Self‐concept and the fashion behavior of women over 50

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to examine the connection between the self‐concept and fashion consumer behaviors of senior females.Design/methodology/approachParticipants for the study (n=200) were recruited from 12 chapters of the Red Hat Society located in the Southeastern USA; they completed a self‐administered survey. Relational, individual and collective identities were measured via well‐established, pre‐existing scales. Statistical findings were used to examine how senior females with unique identities (i.e. relational, individual, and collective self‐concepts) differ in terms of their shopping behaviors and fashion orientation.FindingsStatistical results from this study indicate that apparel purchase decisions for senior females are complex and involve issues beyond style, fit, and price. Information on how the identity groups differed from one another in the various shopping behaviors and their interest in fashion is identified.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides an examination into the complex self‐concept of older females and its link to fashion‐related consumer behaviors. Recommendations on how specific apparel retailers can better target senior females are presented.Originality/valueResearch regarding the complex fashion needs, and purchase decisions of senior females, is sparse. This research contributes to the literature on fashion and apparel by examining how different identities relate to various fashion consumer behaviors for women over 50.

An Integration of Constraints and Benefits Within an Older Women's Social Club: An Examination, Extension and Critique

The purpose of this study was to investigate and extend aspects of Crompton, Jackson, and Witt's (2005) integrated model of constraints and benefits with a convenience sample of participants in the Red Hat Society® (N = 3,573), a social club for women aged 50 and older. In addition to constraints and benefits, model factors included motivations, attitudes, organization-based values, and sociodemographic factors (e.g., age, education, income, health). The extended model positing more pathways among factors was a better fit of the data and provided significant additional explanation of participation and realized benefits. Both gendered constraints and organization-based constraints contributed to the final model. The largest contributor to perceived benefits and participation was the value of dressing up. The investigators discuss the implications of these findings in relation to previous research and for the development of social leisure programs for middle-aged and older women in park and recreation settings.

“The Fun Begins Now!”: Broadening and Building Processes in Red Hat Society® Participation

Fredrickson (1998, 2001, 2004) supports a compelling account of the processes that turn positive emotions into a high quality life. Her broaden-and-build theory, however, has not been explored in leisure contexts nor has it been applied to older women, an increasingly important yet under-researched population. Our study uses an interpretive thematic analysis of 250 participants' responses to an on-line survey of meaningful experiences in the Red Hat Society®, a leisure context for older women. We found evidence of opening up and self-permission to play as forms of broadening, and of social connections, close friendships, and optimism as resulting forms of building uniquely important to older women. Our findings hold promise for understanding how leisure contexts contribute to quality of life.

“She was buried in her purple dress and her red hat and all of our members wore full ‘Red Hat Regalia’ to celebrate her life”: Dress, embodiment and older women's leisure: Reconfiguring the ageing process

There is a significant literature on women's dress and clothing, women's dress and identity, and women's dress and body image. However, the way that dress shapes the self, gives public meaning to the body, and situates it within culture—its embodiment—is understudied. Older women's voices on how dress-up in leisure contexts is linked to embodiment are absent. Using data from an online survey of the Red Hat Society®, a leisure-based social group with over 1 million members, we examined the relationship between older women's dress and embodiment. Data analysis revealed three themes: 1) Dress and embodiment, doing “dress-up”; 2) Dress and embodied subjectivity, linking the personal with the social; and, 3) Dress and perceptions of ageing, fashioning to freedom. We extend the embodiment and leisure literatures by: (a) including older women's viewpoints on dress; (b) understanding linkages between embodiment and older women's leisure; and, (c) illustrating how public displays of dress contribute to older women's development.

Engendering social capital through a leisure club for middle‐aged and older women: implications for individual and community health and well‐being

The purpose of this study was to examine the emergent evidence of social capital in a leisure club for middle‐aged and older women. We analysed 1693 members' responses to an online query about meaningful experiences garnered through participation in the Red Hat Society®. Our analysis revealed aspects of social capital, including bonding and bridging opportunities, social support, sisterhood and civic engagement. Members had a sense of community and this community intersected within the public spheres of the larger society through mechanisms such as Society‐led celebrations and volunteerism. We connect these aspects of social capital to issues of individual and community health and well‐being.

"I Traveled Alone, but Never Felt Alone": An Exploration of the Benefits of an Older Women's Group Tour Experience

Older women's group travel is a neglected research topic in tourism studies. Furthermore, research into the sociopsychological benefits of travel is in its infancy. The purpose of this study was to explore the benefits of a group tour leisure experience for older women. Using self-directed photography, 30 members of the Red Hat Society, an all-women's social leisure group, took photographs during their vacation. Later, they expanded on their photographic selections through personal narratives. Findings suggested that the group tour afforded "Red Hattishness," a multidimensional context to have fun, to be self-expressive, and to develop social relationships. Participants articulated that Red Hattishness fostered positive emotions, which in turn led to expressions of well-being. Results are discussed by extending current conceptualizations of group travel for older women and the role of positive emotions in the travel experience, and by exploring possible links between older women's group travel and their well-being.

Group that celebrates silliness helps women cope with growing old.

How older women cope with challenges and losses in later life influences not only their physical health, but also their psychological wellbeing and quality of life. The Red Hat Society is an international social group for women over 50, and has a mission to 'celebrate the silliness of life'; the main feature of society's meetings is that members must dress up in gaudy red hats and garish purple outfits. The women interviewed said participation helped them to cope with emotional stressors of later life. Although growing old is not something that can be changed, participation in the society helps circumstances seem less distressing and more manageable.

Functional Support Associated with Belonging to the Red Hat Society®, a Leisure-Based Social Network

Researchers have addressed the structure of leisure-based social networks but have given little attention to their functional outcomes, especially among older women. A leisure-based social network popular among older women but little studied is the Red Hat Society®. Thus, we chose to address how older women describe the functional support they receive from one leisure-based social network, the Red Hat Society®. Data were gathered from more than 4,000 members. The findings indicated that functional support is multidimensional (e.g., spending time with friends, attention from others) and with few exceptions, positive. In addition, the functional support is primarily emotional and social in nature rather than informational and financial, as has previously been reported in social networks research.

Beyond fun and friendship: the Red Hat Society as a coping resource for older women

ABSTRACTHow older women cope with challenges and losses in later life influences not only their physical health but also their psychological wellbeing and quality of life. The purpose of the analysis reported in this paper was to understand how participation in a women's leisure-based social group – the Red Hat Society® – serves as a coping resource for older women. The Society is an international organisation of women aged 50 or more years and has the mission to ‘celebrate the silliness of life’. The Society currently has an estimated one million members in 30 countries. To understand the ways that social group participation may contribute to older women's health and wellbeing, this paper examines the dynamics of leisure-based coping with positive emotions as the focus. Based on an analysis of responses to an open-ended question about meaningful experiences associated with being involved in the Red Hat Society, the sample of 272 members identified the main reasons for their involvement as chronic and acute stressors, challenging life transitions and daily hassles. In addition, they described four ways that participation helped them to manage these stressors: as a context for social support, emotional regulation, sustaining coping efforts, and meaning-focused coping. The results are discussed in relation to theory and previous evidence on the role of positive emotions and leisure in coping.

“We Do it Cuz it's Fun”: Gendered Fun and Leisure for Midlife Women through Red Hat Society Membership

The Red Hat Society (RHS) offers midlife and older women a brief, chosen escape from everyday family, paid, and unpaid work duties. Toying with traditional notions of femininity and aging, the women in this study used a campy performance of gender as embodied in the RHS to both rewrite and reproduce traditional gendered scripts. That is, these midlife and older women enacted elaborate and frivolous alternate feminine identities using their RHS membership as a venue. In doing this, RHS members re-appropriated previously diminishing societal attention and recaptured the heterosexist and ageist male gaze. In their research, the authors found that these older women renegotiated and resisted traditional gender roles through self-defined “fun” activities such as going out in public in hyperfeminine dress and engaging in feminine activities such as lunch, tea, and shopping. RHS members are not fading into the woodwork as society expects of aging women, as they publicly take up leisure space, have fun, and engage in personal leisure that only benefits them. This qualitative work, based on research with seventy study participants, twenty-five individual interviews, and four focus groups with forty-five RHS members, suggests that RHS members use the organization as a site of gendered leisure in pursuit of midlife fun.