Gendered ageism as a discrimination criteria in media: Representation of older women in TV series

This research focuses on how the discrimination against older people, especially older women, is legitimized and reflected in society through television. Aging is not only the chronology of a lifetime, but also a concept affected by social dynamics. The discriminatory attitudes, prejudices, and stereotypes in society also affect the aging process and old age. Therefore, the fundamental terms of this research are ageism, which defines discrimination against older people, and gendered ageism, which expresses negative attitudes and behaviors towards older women. Gendered ageism finds a place for itself both in daily life and institutional structures and increases the pressure women face as they get older. The feminist movement, which aims to liberate women, has also ignored older women since the day it emerged. The main subject of this research is to examine the relationship of these discriminatory attitudes and behaviors towards older women through the contents of TV series, how older women are represented in the contents, and how older women are represented in comparison to older men and young characters. Therefore, three TV series that are broadcast each decade as of the 1990s was selected, and the older female characters in these TV series were examined. In total, three TV series and ten old female characters were included in the analysis. Throughout this research, the character traits, social positions, physical characteristics, and spatial relationships of the older female characters were analyzed from a feminist perspective, using content analysis from the qualitative method. As a result of the analysis, it was seen that older women were represented in a very traditional and homogeneous framework, although the series are broadcast in different political environments and different decades. When all characters, especially older male characters, are taken into account, it is observed that older women represent the most disadvantaged group. The aim of this research is to highlight the discrimination faced by older women, who are left even in the feminist movement and feminist literature background, and to ensure that the term gendered ageism takes place more in the literature. Keywords: aging, gendered ageism, media, television series, content analysis