Visible Women

Visible Women: Tales of Age, Gender and In/Visibility is a reflective, questioning, subjective, self-indulgent and moving narrative exploration of the experiences of women growing older and not disappearing. What lies behind stories of older women becoming invisible and disregarded? How true are they, where do they come from, and what do they mean? How might they be challenged, and what other stories can be told?

The core of the book is the poetic representation of the thoughts and lives of a group of women between 50 and 70. Their narratives are drawn from the email correspondence between the author and her seven co-researchers.

Starting with a search for the anecdotal and mythical ‘invisible woman’, the author’s own story is woven into, and becomes part of, the journey. The landscape – which is beautifully observed in clear, non-academic language – takes us through feminist and poststructuralist theory, existentialism, auto/biography, journalism, fictional writing, art, film, poetry and the internet. In ‘examining the bones’ of tales of invisibility, Christine Bell is motivated by indignation as much as curiosity.