Impression Management in Job Interviews and Ageism

 Abstract: The increasingly aging population in most industrialized societies, coupled with the rather age-diverse current workforce makes discrimination against older employees a prevalent issue, especially in employment contexts. This renders research on ways for reducing this type of discrimination a particularly pressing concern. Drawing on theories of social identity and impression management, our research examines the role of impression management, aimed at refuting common older worker stereotypes, in diminishing bias against older job applicants during the job interview. 

The study consisted in an experimental hiring simulation conducted on a sample of 515 undergraduate students. Results show that older applicants who used impression management to contradict common older worker stereotypes were perceived as more hirable than those who did not. However, despite this positive effect, discrimination persisted: older applicants were consistently rated as less hirable than their younger counterparts when displaying the same IM behavior. Taken together, this research demonstrates that older job seekers can indeed ameliorate biased interview outcomes by engaging in impression management targeting common age stereotypes; however, it also shows that this strategy is insufficient for overcoming age discrimination entirely. The current study has important implications for theory, by expanding research on the use of impression management in mitigating age discrimination, as well as for practice, by offering older employees a hands-on strategy to reduce bias and stereotyping against them (Gioaba & Krings, 2017).

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- Gioaba, I. & Krings, F. (2017), Front Psychol., link
- photograph (Senior Citizen Walking Club at Alki Playground, Seattle, 1980) via

Corridor Care in the UK: The Longest Wait

“The corridors were lined with patients on trolleys, hooked up to drips, some moaning in pain. It reminded me of war films, with queues of stretchers and people suffering. I was next to a man who was clearly unwell. He was alone for some time, then his wife was brought in. They whispered as they had little privacy. Then, after a long silence she was led away, crying. I’m certain he died, and he died right next to me.” (woman, 79, from London)

While ten years ago waiting in Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments for more than twelve hours was a rarity, now it is routine. In fact, between 2019/20 and 2024/25, "the number of attendances to A&E that resulted in a 12-hour-wait for a bed increased by nearly 2000%". One in three of people aged 90 or older wait twelve hours or more in A&E to be either admitted or discharged home. The number of "corridor care" cases has increased 525-fold in the past nine to ten years. And last year, 532,451 people had to experience corridor care of a minimum of twelve hours (via).

“My very ill late husband, with a drip attached, was put in a chair… he was desperate to go to the loo and there was no one to take him. He was left with excrement in his pants and was left in this state for over 20 hours. How dreadful he felt – no modesty.” (a widow)

Hospital corridor care means queues of stretchers, elderly patients being left to soil themselves, puddles of urine on the floor, patients being forced to use bedpans in corridors, patients hearing or seeing other patients - other humans - dying while waiting for their own care, relatives not leaving the hospital and staying awake for 36 hours to make sure their beloved ones are somewhat taken care of (via). No matter how big cost pressures and how tight budgets are, treating vulnerable people like this just should not be an option.

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photograph of a nurse in 1969 via

UK Poverty 2025

Although the UK is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, "current levels of poverty are around 50% higher than in the 1970s" (via). According to the report "UK Poverty 2025", more than 1 in 5 (i.e. 21% or 14.3 million people) were in poverty in 2022/23. A closer look shows that 2 in every 20 adults but 3 in every 10 children lived in poverty. 4 in 10 of those in poverty (6 million people) were in very deep poverty defined by an income far below the poverty line. The poorest families had an average income of 57% below the poverty line. 

Around 3.8 million people (including one million children) experienced destitution, the deepest form of poverty where the most basic needs such as staying warm, dry, clean and fed cannot be met. These disturbing figures have more than doubled between 2017 and 2022. 

There are specific groups that are particularly vulnerable, such as children in general or - even more - larger families with three or more children or children in lone-parent families  (45% of children in large families and 44% of children in lone-parent families were in poverty). Minority ethnic groups are also susceptible to poverty. 56% of people in Bangladeshi and 49% in Pakistani households lived in poverty. The intersection of ethnicity and childhood in numbers means that 67% of children in Bangladeshi and 61% of children in Pakistani households were affected by poverty. 4 in 10 people (40%) in Black British households were in poverty. 

Ethnicity is not the only minoritiy status that is related to poverty. The poverty rate (30%) for disabled people, just to mention one example, was 10 percentage points higher than the rate for people without disabilities. A distinction of disabilities is of interest since it shows that it matters wether one has a limiting mental condition (50% poverty rate) or a physical type (29% poverty rate) of disability (via).

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation points out the importance of tackling poverty stigma in order to fight poverty:

We believe that poverty and poverty stigma are inextricably entangled social problems that reinforce and feed each other. 

We believe that poverty and poverty stigma need to be tackled simultaneously. Anti-poverty work needs to be anti-stigma work at its roots and in every branch of collective action towards ending poverty in the UK. 

We believe that designing stigma out of systems of welfare and support is integral to the fight for economic justice and economic security (Cooke, 2023). 

We believe that stigma is a powerful glue that holds poverty in place, enabling and exacerbating inequalities of wealth, health and opportunity. Loosening the grip of stigma is a key lever of wider progressive social change. 

Effective action on poverty stigma needs to be intersectional, collective and participatory. (via)

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photograph by Rob Brenner (copyright by R. Brenner) via

Bullying Towards a Same-Country or Immigrant Peer

Abstract: This study investigated students' perspectives about bullying towards same-country and immigrant peers. Thirty-five Italian and immigrant students (age range: 11–15) took part to the study. Participants were probed with two bullying scenarios, depicting respectively a new classmate from another Italian city and from a foreign country. A Grounded Theory approach was adopted to examine participants' perspectives about the motives for bullying. 

Findings showed that a process of socializing deviance is at the core of both forms of bullying. This social process refers to a series of shared beliefs within the peer group about the victim's deviant features. Three sub-categories related to both forms of bullying emerged from the core concept: (a) Rejecting the newcomer deviance, (b) Rejecting physical deviance, (c) and Rejecting personality deviance. These sub-categories were related to the sub-categories of bullying towards immigrant peers: (d) Rejecting cultural deviance, (e) and Learned racism. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical relevance. (Mazzone et al., 2018)

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- Mazzone, A., Thomberg, R., Stefanelli, S., Cadei, L., & Caravita, S. C. S. (2018). "Judging by the cover": A grounded theory study of bullying towards same-country and immigrant peers. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 403-412.
- photograph by Rob Brenner via

Applying for a Job? Your Age? Your Gender? ...

 A resume correspondence study on the basis of more than 40,000 job applications for four occupations (administrative jobs, sales, security jobs, janitor jobs) found "robust evidence of age discrimination in hiring against older women, especially those near retirement age, but considerably less evidence of age discrimination against men".

For the four occupations combined, callback rates were significantly lower when the applicants were perceived as older, i.e., by 18% for middle-aged workers and about 35% for older workers.

For administrative jobs, the callback rate was 14,4% for applicants aged 29 to 31, 10,3% for those aged 49 to 51 and 7,6% for applicants aged 64 to 66. 

For sales jobs, there was not really a difference between young and middle-aged applicantsn in terms of callback rate. However, the callback rate for older applicants was 30% lower. In addition, there was evidence of stronger age discrimination of female applicants. 

For security jobs too, there were more or less equal callback rates for middle-aged and older applicants. Again, both were lower than the callback rate for younger applicants. 

And, finally, for janitor jobs, the callback rate for older applicants was significantly lower than the rate for middle-aged or younger applicants (Neumark, Burn & Button, 2018).

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- Neumark, D., Burn, I. & Button, P. (2018). Is It Harder For Older Workers to Find Jobs? New and Improved Evidence from a Field Experiment. Journal of Political Economy, 127(2), link
- photograph by Flip Schulke via

Magazines for Boys, Magazines for Girls: More of the Same Stereotypes

Abstract: In two studies, we investigated the prevalence of gender stereotypes in print magazines targeted at 2- to 9-year-olds, analyzing three crucial and distinct aspects of children’s magazines: the front cover, the magazine content, and featured activities. Study 1 focused on the front covers of 106 children’s print magazines aimed at audiences of either girls, boys, or both boys and girls. Content analyses revealed that magazines aimed solely at boys or girls displayed gender-stereotypic colors and more same- than other-gender characters. Front covers aimed at girls contained no speaking characters and, compared to front covers aimed at boys, displayed more words related to appearance. 

Study 2 analyzed the content of 42 magazine issues. Magazines aimed at girls were most likely to incorporate the themes of fashion and home, to instruct the reader to ask for an adult’s help with an activity, and less likely to include activities labeled as educational than were magazines aimed at boys or both girls and boys. In contrast, magazines aimed at boys were most likely to incorporate the theme of jobs. Overall, findings suggest that gender stereotypical messages are embedded throughout young children’s magazines, which are tailored in their style and content based on their target audience. (Spinner, Cameron & Tenenbaum, 2023)

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- Spinner, L., Cameron, L., & Tenenbaum, H. R. (2023). Gender stereotypes in young children’s magazines. Mass Communication & Society, 26(1), 147–170. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2022.2052902 

- photograph (Clive and Lisa, 1971), (c) Museums Victoria Collections, via

Isabella, 71, says ...

“I am older and I look like a woman my age. Some mornings, when I look at myself in the mirror I think: “What if I have surgery?” But I always exclude it because surgery is like when they sold feet to women in China, a new consequence of misogyny. If I did I might look 56 years old, but when I'm 76 I'll look 66... ​​It's winning a battle to lose the war. Besides, in the long run, beauty is mostly about elegance and intelligence. I think of Maria Callas, Frida Kahlo, Anna Magnani... 

At 20 we all look good in jeans and t-shirt. But then, beauty is a matter of style, personality, charisma... You don’t need to hide the flaws, but transform them to be unique. Now I’m no longer trying to be sexy, but finding the best expression of myself. When you are young you have a lot of pressure: work, money, children... But as you get older you feel more free and secure and you do what you want. Nobody talks about how wonderful it is to get old! ”.
Isabella Rossellini

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photograph (copyright by the respective owner) of Isabella Rossellini via

Kanitlow. By Luvia Lazo.

"In Zapotec communities, it is difficult for a woman to use her voice to tell her story, or to share her thoughts. My grandfather, Domingo, encouraged my voice. After he passed last year, I started to pay attention to elders in my community. I study their hands, expressions, movements — the way they talk, how they hold a cup, or how they wear the hats on their heads. I began photographing grandparents in my village as a way to find memories of my own grandfather in these elders, while at the same time preserving and documenting our culture while it’s transforming. 

There is a word in Zapotec used to name someone or something disappearing — when a close friend is not close anymore, when someone stops visiting as often as they do, when things transform and change, or when someone is going blind. This word, kanitlow, means “faces are getting lost,” or “disappearing.” 

I want to document the memories of our culture and images of our grandparents. When they are gone their grandchildren can look for them, as I look for my grandfather in old pictures now. This work will be a place where my community can find their grandparents in photographs — where they can not only read time, context, and body language, but also see our culture reflected in the images."

Luvia Lazo

"When my grandfather passed away, I had a grant from FONCA for Young Creators, and I was working with women from my community. But I was in the midst of grief, and I talked to my mentors to tell them that my work didn’t feel honest. So, at that moment, I started photographing my grandfather’s spaces. 

I took photos, for example, when I went to collect his clothes. At that point, his closet only had three shirts. I began to navigate this grief and noticed many grandparents who I felt were close to passing, like my grandfather. I knew them from the market, which was also influenced by Covid when many older adults were dying. 

So, I started paying more attention to these signs of death their way of walking, and decided to photograph many of them. Several of the people I photographed have passed away in the last year."

Luvia Lazo

"It started with my grandfather, but I realized it later. I took several photos when I said, ‘One day, he’ll be gone.’ They were images of his eye with cataracts, his little hand, or these things about grandparents that you can’t quite make sense of. For example, my grandfather used to fasten his shirt with a paperclip, and he wouldn’t let anyone fix it. 

This new layer emerged as I got closer to these people, and through the interaction, I started to see how they transformed. It’s about their skin, the weariness in their gaze, or something quite curious happens – the spaces where they sleep become smaller. In other words, I see how they start to become smaller. 

But I have only seen glimpses of this so far. When I was at the Mirar Distinto portfolio review, I ended up with two photos, and that’s a guide to what’s calling me now."

Luvia Lazo

"The first photo I took without faces—which I now connect to this work—was of my grandmother. My relationship with her was a bit distant, detached. From time to time, she would come to the house to say hello to my mom, and that day she was visiting. 

My mom (who always wears dresses with flowers, earrings with flowers, aprons with flowers, her room is full of flowers) had bought a hibiscus that was in bloom that day, and she asked me to take a picture of her with her hibiscus. I got the camera to take her picture: her with her hibiscus. When my grandmother was leaving, I don’t know why, I asked her, “Can I take a picture of you?” I had never taken pictures of her before, because I didn’t feel close to her. She looked at me and agreed. “But with your back turned,” I told her, “you don’t have to see me,” and she stood right next to my house, and I took that picture, at that moment. 

That was long before this series. I didn’t even remember that photo, which came out of the fear of not knowing what to do with the relationship I had with her. I didn’t want to invade her. Then, looking through my archives, I found the photo, and I couldn’t believe it was identical to the photos I’m taking now. That was the first photo I took with a back turned. It’s why I’m including it, even though the picture was never intended for this series.

I lived with my great-grandparents. They were already old, and I was aware “they would die soon or someday,” I thought. I was very shy, and photography became a way of being, feeling, expressing. It was my language, a way to navigate my space and my great-grandparents’ home. I also learned visual language—or communicating without words—because my great-grandmother had a stroke and didn’t speak for seven years. But we talked all the time, even without speaking. We had a way of communicating through images. 

When my great-grandfather died, it was a complicated process. I understood grief. Yes, I felt my heart was broken. For me, my grandfather Domingo is the root of this photographic series. We spent the last month of his life together. I listened to him a lot, and we talked a lot. I think older people want to talk, and I can sit and listen to them for hours, just as I did with my grandfather. Once he was gone, I would have liked to stay and listen to him for a bit longer. 

He walked a lot, and I started walking a lot, with the camera. Whenever I walked, there was someone who reminded me of him. That’s how this series began. I was thinking about my grandfather. I have many pictures of him, but almost all of them are of his hands, his unbuttoned shirt, his eye, his ear. When you know someone so well, you see those little things; when you lose them, you remember those details. 

In my grandfather’s case, I remember precisely how he wore his hat: a little bit on the side, not too much. For me, all those little things were what was really important to observe in him. Then, when I started looking at other elderly people, I would see what I saw in him. I would see the clothes or a little chain, and when I started talking to them, it was the blouse that her daughter sent her from the United States or the chain that his son had given him when he graduated. All those elements, put together, were speaking and saying something well beyond their faces. I didn’t need to see their eyes or faces to understand them. I wanted to show the truly ordinary.

There is a photo of a man with wooden cooking utensils. One day I was in the market, and suddenly I saw a blue jacket, like my grandfather’s. I ran after him. When I caught up with him, I said, “Oh, sorry, I mistook you for someone else,” and we sat down to talk.  

That was the first Sunday, and I saw him many more Sundays. I would go to talk to him, because I could see his hands and how he played with his fingers, and they were just like my grandfather’s, just like his. I remember when taking that picture of the utensils, the hand, the silhouette, everything; I took it and began to cry. I knew it was not my grandfather, but when I saw the photo, I felt that if I removed the wooden spatulas, I would see him. It wasn’t him; it was the process of searching for him. 

I no longer cry when I take pictures. There came a time when it didn’t hurt anymore, and I stopped crying. But that led me to deep conversations, especially with women. Getting close to them, talking and speaking Zapotec, showed me on another level who they were and what they knew. It had nothing to do with their eyes. Some would ask, “aren’t you going to take a photo of me from the front?” One lady asked me to take one, “for when I die so that they can put it on my coffin.” That was very intense for me. 

I like to sit and listen to them, I like to go and see them, go to their spaces, go and greet them, listen to their stories. Also, I feel that it’s like tricking life. Some women have told me things I never thought they would say to me. When I listen to them, I find that although they are not from my time, we have many things in common. I look at these people who have lived, achieved, made mistakes, and I think this human part of everyone is universal.

(...) Some flowers are just for the cemetery. Some are for church, and others are for saints. Some are for godparents at a wedding, or for children, others are only for women. I started to observe all that, and I found it incredible. It was cyclical, the Flor de Niño is only used at Christmas, and on January 15th, we only have poinsettias, because we celebrate San Antonio, and the market turns red. On the Day of the Dead, we have flor de muerto, and the whole market smells of them. During Holy Week, the saints have necklaces of frangipanis, to accompany the Stations of the Cross."

Luvia Lazo

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photographs via and via and via and via and via and via 

A Demographic Version of Astrology

"(...) the danger is that generational labels could be nothing more than a demographic version of astrology, using arbitrary dates to form judgements about individual personality and needs."
Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton

photograph by Slim Aarons via

New Year's Resolutions

I will continue. I won't give up. I will always fight ageism and will never accept the discrimination against older people just because it is often considered as "normal" or acceptable or easy to hide or not hashtag-worthy. I won't get tired of fighting. Human lives are precious, no matter how old human beings are. There is no expiry date. Wish you all the best for 2025, no matter what age!

photographs of New Year's Eve via

Swimming upstream in a sea of ageism

"We all swim in a sea of isms. They emerge as humans develop and apply stereotypes as shortcuts to avoid engagement with our fear of difference. Once they are widely accepted, stereotypes tend to become exaggerated and widely understood as objective descriptions of the way life is and was always meant to be. As Gordon Allport noted, at this point stereotypes pose a situational threat to the groups they target."
Amanda Barusch

photograph by Robbie McIntosh via

Boys & Girls & Reading

According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, boys have lower reading skills than girls by the end of primary school. This gap has been reported for more than twenty years with "girls outperforming boys in 51 of the 57 participating education systems, with an average difference of 19 points". In addition, boys report less enjoyment of reading; 46% of girls say they like reading compared to only 37% of boys enjoying reading (via).

photogrpah by Vivian Maier via

One Every 11 Minutes

According to UN Women, in 2021 alone, about 45,000 women and girls were killed by a male relative, i.e., one every eleven minutes (via).

photograph by Weegee via

But Against the System

"I do not fight against men, but against the system that is sexist."

Elfriede Jelinek

photograph via

9 November 1938

"There was a lot of glass on the streets. We lived in the West End, surrounded by shops, many of them Jewish. This was late at night and it was dark; but we had no trouble in picking out the Jewish shops. They had been looted, the windows had been smashed, and there were ashes, rubble and debris outside some of the shops. We had not seen how our fellow Jews had been treated: beaten, taken to prison, some of them never to return. But in our hiding place, listening to our friends, we heard more and more of the story of Kristallnacht."

Albert Friedlander

photograph by John Offenbach (series "Jew") via

Because of and inspite of

“When people like me, they like me "in spite of my color." When they dislike me; they point out that it isn't because of my color. Either way, I am locked in to the infernal circle.”
Frantz Fanon

photograph by John H. White via

Associations with African American Vernacular English

Abstract: The current study examines the effect of dialect for a Black speaker, paying particular attention to the implications for criminal justice processing. Participants in this study heard an audio clip of a Black man describing his weekend and were randomly assigned to hear the account spoken in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Mainstream American English (MAE). For half of each sample, the audio clip was described as an alibi. Participants then evaluated the speaker across dimensions related to character and criminality, as well as his race (sic), education, and socio-economic status. 

Results indicate that the speaker was viewed as having worse character and a greater criminal propensity if he spoke using the AAVE guise rather than the MAE guise. Additionally, participants perceived the AAVE speaker to be more stereotypically Black, less educated, and lower socio-economic status. These findings raise questions about contemporary forms of bias in criminal justice processing. (Dunbar, King & Vaughn, 2024)

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- Dunbar, King & Vaughn (2024). Dialect on Trial: An Experimental Examination of Raciolinguistic Ideologies and Character Judgments. Sage Journals, link

- photograph by John H. White via

Internalising Ableism from a Young Age

Jóhannsdóttir et al. (2022) studied internalised ableism based on four focus-group sessions with young people (aged 18-35) who identified as disabled. The participants reflected on their childhood and adolescence and shared their experience that ableism made their impairment "a sensitive marker of something 'abnormal' and 'undesirable', which again made them even more aware of their (...) differences and negative portrayal in society". 

I understand it; I don’t know if I would date me, with everything that comes with it. So, I understand people, even if it is not the right attitude, or maybe not very modern. I cannot get frustrated or angry with people because I understand it 100%.

In fact, having to constantly fight notions of normality, abnormality, prejudice, and stigma, dealing with people's stares, patronising comments, aggression and micoraggression led to exhaustion, anxiety, depression and isolation. Adolescence was referred to as a particularly difficult time. Some participants mentioned isolation and disconnection to be everypresent. Being treated as inferior made them feel unworthy of both love and belonging, that again reinforced shame. And shame was strongly linked to mental health issues and negative body image. A few participants considered internalised ableism to be the main barrier to their wellbing in later life.

The extent to which internalised ableism developed was mediated by family support, peer interactions, networks and safer spaces. In line with prior findings, ableism started early ... sometimes even before birth when encountering doctors. Having a disabled child is often seen as a tragedy or a burden on the family. Some parents actively fought these notions, others identified with these ideas. One participant of the focus groups said:

It’s like if you are born disabled, your parents need education on everything their child can do. Not that the doctor comes and says, “This is what is wrong, and this … and this… and this.” Too often, a grim picture of the baby’s condition is painted. When rather someone should come and say, “These are the resources available for you …. Your child can do this … and this … and this.” The focus is too often on what is wrong with the baby but not what the baby is capable of.

Gender, ethnicity, social status and other intersections also had an impact on how strongly discrimination was felt.

For me, it is complicated to discuss relationships because I am a lesbian. (…) people connected that to my disability, saying that I just knew myself as a woman. And that I did not know men. That is why, according to them, I am attracted to women because it is the only thing I know! (everyone laughs)

The lack of socialising experiences with other disabled children was discussed in a controversial manner showing that this separation might hinder young people from identifying with other disabled people.

I had a very good paediatrician who fought for me to not associate with other disabled children, that is, I would not go to a special school, not go to the summer camps for disabled children, like my brothers. And yes, I spent much more time around non‐disabled children.

I started experiencing that when I was around disabled children. I did not understand what they were going through… I did… I disregarded my disability. Mine was not as important/valid as that of others.

Summer camps for disabled children, i.e., the forced segregation experienced, for many, were ...

Just really hard summers … where we, as young children, experienced the vulnerability of other children in this place. It kind of sticks with me, this vulnerability and aloneness of the other children. We were not experiencing one another’s strengths, you know. There is a huge difference between experiencing peer support through strength and empowerment and enduring what we experienced in that summer camp.

The feeling of disconnection, unlovability, and unworthiness can result in deep shame making people internalise ableism at a young age. There are other ways.

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- Ásta Jóhannsdóttir, Snæfríður Þóra Egilson & Freyja Haraldsdóttir (2022). Implications of internalised ableism for the health and wellbeing of disabled young people. Social Health Illn, 44(2), link
- photograph (Oksana with a leaf of cabbage from the garden of the Internat where she lives in isolation with more than 60 girls and women categorised as disabled. Pretrykhiv, Ternopil, Ukraine. 2016) by Carolyn Drake via

Escaramuza. By Constance Jaeggi.

"Historically Charrería, which is the national sport of Mexico, was predominantly male. Charrería emerged from early Mexican cattle ranching activities and was eventually refined and formalized during the post-revolutionary era as a romantic, nationalist expression of ‘lo mexicano’ (Mexicanness). It is similar in many ways to American rodeo in its variety of competitive equestrian activities. Women, however, were not seen participating on horseback until the 1950s when they were finally brought into the sport as riders.

A discipline was invented for female participants called ‘Escaramuza,’ consisting of all-female precision horse riding teams who execute exacting maneuvers while riding sidesaddle at high speed and wearing traditional Mexican attire. The costumes and synchronized patterns they perform were inspired by the Soldadera or Adelita, the women who fought in the Mexican Revolution between 1910-1920. To this day, the events within Charrería remain heavily gender segregated. A charreada lasts up to three hours but the portion dedicated to Escaramuza makes up for three to five minutes of those three hours, so there is still a large discrepancy between the representation of genders within the sport.

Escaramuza is wide-spread in Mexico of course, and becoming increasingly established in the United States as Charrería keeps growing. Initially, I was drawn to the visuals. The dresses are colorful and intricate, and the performance is elegant and powerful, like a ballet on horseback. But it is the stories of the women I met that really captivated me. The dedication that they have for the sport and their drive to uphold this tradition is admirable. In Mexico, Charrería tends to be a sport practiced by the wealthy, while many of the charros and charras in the US work hard to be able to afford the costs associated with owning and competing with horses. A lot of the women I met are full time students, or have full time jobs, sometimes multiple jobs and are raising children.

The sport is also dangerous. The women ride side saddle in heavy, hand-crafted dresses. A team consists of eight riders, and they perform patterns, criss-crossing each other at high speed. Riding side-saddle is extremely difficult as you only have good control over one side of the horse. There is a narrative around immigration and the role it plays in the development of the sport in the US, shaped by this feeling that many of the riders expressed to me of “not feeling Mexican enough when traveling to Mexico, but not feeling American enough at home either.” 

Then there are the gender relations. Many riders expressed frustration regarding their inability to vote within the Charrería governing association, and the strictness of the dress rules they are subjected to, which is not the case for the disciplines practiced by the men. And finally, the parallels with the women who fought in the Mexican Revolution, the lack of historical research on their role, how they were remembered through time. Essentially, it felt like such a richly layered story, there was so much unpacking to do that I couldn’t look away. 

The women I photographed are from all around the US. They are for the most part first, second, third, fourth and fifth generation Americans. As I got to know these women personally, I became aware of the importance of their oral histories. I needed to bring their voices back into the work somehow. I started interviewing teams as I went. I met teams from California, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Iowa and Colorado, recording their stories as I photographed them. I tried to understand how they thought of their position in Charrería, what Escaramuza meant to them and how they wanted to be seen, which influenced the way I photographed them. I am continuing the project as I expand the body of work for an upcoming book, and attempting to cover as many of the US states as possible. 

Escaramuza translates to ‘skirmish’ in English, inspired by the image of the soldaderas sent into battle before the men to kick up dust and distract the opposing side. Women of course played a much more significant role than simple distraction during this complex and destructive civil war. They were activists in feminist movements, but a much larger number of women of rural and lower urban classes found themselves caught up in the struggle and had no choice but to be actively involved, whether it was as camp followers and caretakers for the soldiers, or as women who took up arms. 

I see parallels between the soldaderas’ contribution to the advancement of women’s emancipation in Mexico and the Escaramuzas I met who are pushing back on the machismo in their sport. Especially for the US-based Escaramuzas growing up in blended cultures. The image of the soldadera is a powerful historical example and reference point. It means that Escaramuza is much more than a way to connect with contemporary Mexican traditions. It also connects these women to their history, the history of their people and of women in their culture. It gives women a certain image of strength to refer to.  

One of the riders told me that she wanted to inspire other young women by showing them that they too could ride horses, be fierce and competitive and that they too could have a place in Charreria. Soldaderas provide evidence of women defying social expectations, and that has an impact. 

(...) Escaramuza is an example of cultural preservation in an era where globalization often dilutes local traditions; a way of keeping customs and stories of past generations alive by passing down skills and technique from one generation to the next. It is a celebration of heritage. It is also a source of personal empowerment for many of the women involved, providing a strong sense of identity and pride and challenging traditional gender roles by showcasing women as skilled equestrians and leaders in their communities. This empowerment is not only personal but also communal, as it helps redefine gender norms within a cultural context."

Constance Jaeggi

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photographs by Constance Jaeggi via and via and via 

Men Untitled. By Carolyn Drake.

"I worked on the periphery of my subject for almost a year before turning to face it directly. Many months were spent scouting locations, arranging portrait sessions, searching for props, and hiring assistants before I decided that what I really needed was to get the men in front of me to take off their clothes. 

Despite having existed among them for half a century, I cannot claim to be comfortable around male bodies. The truth is, the male body is not a subject that I’ve ever been encouraged scrutinize the way we do women’s bodies. It’s as though the act of looking at men is inherently dangerous. Asking the men to remove their clothing introduced a degree of risk that propelled my fifty-year-old imagination even as sexual desire continued to elude it. 

Mostly, I photographed men who were older than me. Maybe I was more interested in seeing masculinity in decline than admiring male prowess. Or maybe older men are more visibly vulnerable, making me more empathetic towards them. Some of them unveiled their bodies with adventurous curiosity; others were willing to partly reveal themselves, letting go of their reservations as an act of generosity. Some got an erection and stood still in front of me, wondering where to direct their gaze. One person kept bending over to make sure I captured a view of his anus. 

Once I started stripping away the clothing and props and scenery, what I was left with was a body alive in time, like mine. Its authority dissolved when I took the liberty to look."

Carolyn Drake

"I really wanted to expose the body and demean it and play with the idea of seeing how far I could push men, even if they didn’t want to."

Carolyn Drake

"I realized that it was also a healing exercise for my psyche. I channeled a lot of pent-up anger to make the work, drawing from repeated dealings with misogyny in life and politics, including the restriction of women’s rights to abortion, over which I had no control."

Carolyn Drake

"I am a 52-year-old woman who has internalized a lot of personal and political rage over the years, most recently in response to the #MeToo movement and the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion rights. My hormonal impulses are also shifting. I wanted to channel all that onto the men: how can I subjugate the male body, and how will that look and feel to me? 

But on the other hand, photography for me is a way of connecting and empathizing with other people. So as I played with how it felt to look down on men and to mangle and twist and direct their bodies, I also found tenderness and began to see the ways they were fragile, and not at all fulfilling masculine stereotypes. 

I also wanted to look at the myths connected to masculine ideals, but without perpetuating them. The images are constructed, posed. I did not want to insinuate any of this as natural, so the feeling of staging and performance was important to me.

One of the main differences in the way I approached the men as photographic subjects is that I wanted to expose the vulnerability of their bodies and lay them bare. (...)

Wallace is a character I got to know pretty well over many photo shoots. Before he passed away in 2022, he ran a motorcycle club next to his house, and the inside, notably, was wallpapered floor to ceiling and all over the ceiling with centerfolds from Penthouse and Playboy magazines that he had collected over the years. This was always something on my mind when I visited his house to photograph him, so when one day he showed me an old picture he had taken of an ex-girlfriend, I knew I wanted to ask him if he would be willing to pose for me in the same position. He agreed to let me photograph him hanging upside down from a hook like a piece of meat only if I would also, and it felt natural for me to agree to it. What I chose not to do is publish the image he took of me. That final decision of what to show is where my power resides. This is about me authoring male bodies, not the reverse.

(...) The men weren’t all cis, actually, but I didn’t distinguish one way or another in the image titles. It’s not a project about youth culture and the diversification of gender identities. It’s about my feelings toward old guard gender structures whose power remains entrenched, and about how I too relate to individual people on that spectrum. Part of why I worked mostly with older men was that I wanted to see masculine strength in decline.

(...)

I had to let myself feel two things at once while making this project — anger I had boxed in and the empathy needed to make human portraits. One of the things they remind you in psychotherapy is that contradictory feelings can coexist. 

Regarding geography, the American South is where I began, but I eventually decided that the project is not about a particular region. It’s about an American brand of patriarchy and its strange attachment to white penises."

Carolyn Drake

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photographs via and via and via