The Raging Grannies: Defying Stereotypes and Embracing Aging Through Activism

Abstract

The Raging Grannies are a group of older women who dress as “grannies” and alter the words of traditional songs to communicate political messages. Based on a review of song lyrics, participant observation, and interviews with 15 Grannies, this study explores Raging Granny activism and the strategic adoption of the grandmother identity. The Grannies challenge stereotypes of older women through the fact and forms of their activism, and they see their aged status as empowering and as something to be embraced. Grannies report that the grandmother identity serves a protective function and enhances movement efficacy. This case study adds to the sparse literature on older women's political activism and demonstrates that identity exploration is not restricted to youth-centered movements.

KEYWORDS:

• Raging Grannies
• older women
• social movements
• activism
• stereotypes
• identity

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to thank the members of the Raging Grannies who generously gave of their time and wisdom during the course of this research. The author also gratefully acknowledges that financial support for this research was received from a grant partly funded by Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) operating funds, and partly by the SSHRC Institutional Grant awarded to WLU. A previous version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the North Central Sociological Association in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 2008.