Journal of Women & Aging, 21:171185, 2009

Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 0895-2841 print/1540-7322 online
DOI: 10.1080/08952840903054898

The Raging Grannies: Defying Stereotypes and

1540-7322
0895-2841
WJWA
Journal of Women & Aging,
Aging Vol. 21, No. 3, June 2009: pp. 125

Embracing Aging Through Activism

DANA SAWCHUK
TheSawchuk
D. Raging Grannies

Department of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada

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 grand-
mother 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 womens political
activism and demonstrates that identity exploration is not
restricted to youth-centered movements.

KEYWORDS Raging Grannies, older women, social movements,

activism, stereotypes, identity

INTRODUCTION

The Raging Grannies are one of North Americas most innovative and
colorful social movements. Composed primarily of older women in their
60s, 70s, and beyond, the Grannies mobilize on a variety of peace, environ-
mental, feminist, and region-specific social justice issues. Grannies dress in
flamboyant costumes of skirts, shawls, and decorated hats while they flaunt
their identities as feisty grandmothers instead of as nice little old ladies. At
their rages, as their organized protests are called, they show upinvited

Address correspondence to Dana Sawchuk, PhD, Department of Sociology, Wilfrid

Laurier University, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada, N2L 3C5.
E-mail: dsawchuk@wlu.ca

171
172 D. Sawchuk

or notto city halls, shopping malls, nuclear power plants, armed forces
recruiting centers, and antiwar and antiglobalization demonstrations to sing
out their political messages to the tune of songs from days gone by. As the
Granny gaggle of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has defined the Granny
vision:

Our Vision (Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic):

Mine eyes have seen the glory of a coming world of peace,

With the blessed end of poverty, equalitys increase.
With pure air and free health care, yes,
And good schools for you and me.
The truth will make us free.

Chorus:

Glory, glory hallelujah,

Greedy menll no longer rule ya,
Lying media wont fool ya,
And the truth will make us free.

In the beauty of our Mother Earth well fly a peaceful dove,

With security for everyone across the sea and here.
Well reject the grapes of wrath,
The bitter grapes of hate and fear,
And extol sweet plums of love.

Lyrics by Sally-Alice Thompson (Raging Grannies, 2006a)

Given their crazy costumes and bold behaviors, it is not surprising that
the Raging Grannies have long been the subject of much journalistic
attention. In contrast, however, only a small and relatively recent collection
of scholarly research on this unique phenomenon exists. Most of this work
(e.g., Roy, 2000, 2004, 2007) focuses on how the Grannies use humor and
satire as tools of political education. Some attention has also been paid to
the implications of Granny activism for later life learning (Narushima, 2004)
and to the health-related benefits of participation in the Grannies
(Hutchinson &Wexler, 2007).
The aim of the present research is to contribute to this fledgling body
of knowledge by analyzing the Raging Grannies from within the framework
of social movement studies, an increasingly important subfield in academia
 The Raging Grannies 173

(Meyer, 2002). Social movements are organized, but noninstitutional,

challenges to political powerholders or cultural beliefs and practices
(Goodwin & Jasper, 2003). The social movements framework, with its
emphasis on how those who typically lack social power have the potential
to effect political (McAdam, 1982) or cultural (Earl, 2004) change, appears
particularly well suited to contribute to a study of a social justice movement
whose chief constituents are older women.
Specifically, I am inspired by the work of social-movement analysts
who blur the boundaries between the so-called (Cohen, 1985) strategy-
oriented and identity-oriented paradigms in the field. Characteristically,
those who are strategy-oriented (e.g., McAdam, 1982; McCarthy & Zald,
1977) have concerned themselves with the matter of how successful mobili-
zation can occur. Those associated with the identity-oriented approach,
commonly called New Social Movement theorists (e.g., Melucci, 1989;
Touraine, 1981), have more closely focused on the matter of who is doing
the mobilizing. Instead of maintaining such a strict how vs. who dichot-
omy, however, in this work I follow the lead of scholars such as Bernstein
(1997), who argues that identity itself can be used strategically (see also
Taylor & Raeburn, 1995). Although Bernsteins theoretical model was devel-
oped in reference to the lesbian and gay movement, her general notion of
the strategic deployment of identity, the goal of which is to transform the
categories and values of mainstream culture, informs the present study.
Finally, while I do draw conceptual tools from the study of social
movements, this research does fit more generally into the field of feminist
gerontology. While acknowledging on the one hand that older women face
challenges associated with both sexism and ageism (Browne, 1998; Hatch,
2005; Rosenthal, 1990), this literature also focuses on the empowerment and
accomplishments of older women, and on their potential to contribute to
meaningful social change (Garner & Mercer, 2001; Jacobs, 1993; Onyx,
Leonard, & Reed, 1999). A case study on the Raging Grannies can add to
the literature that analyzes older women as vibrant challengers of the status
quo, instead of as merely victims of the inequities of the established order.
Thus in my research I ask whether and how, in a culture characterized as
both ageist and sexist, the very fact and specific forms of the Grannies political
activism can have implications for certain negative stereotypes and fears
related to older women. In addition, and despite the fact that older women are
often disrespected, disregarded, and dismissed (Garner, 1999), I ask whether
the Grannies, in their proud and purposeful adoption of the identity of old
women, have any strategic advantage in terms of social movement efficacy.

The Raging Grannies

The original Raging Grannies sprang into action in Victoria, BC, in February
1987 (Acker & Brightwell, 2004). Frustrated with the sexism and ageism
174 D. Sawchuk

they detected in the mainstream peace movement (Roy, 2004) and dissatis-
fied with the tepid responses garnered by more traditional protesting via
petitions and letters, a small group of women decided to do something
different. On Valentines Day the members of this initial Granny gaggle
presented the chair of the federal defense committee with an oversized
Un-Valentine card to protest Canadas nuclear arms policies. Shortly there-
after the group sang and presented briefs (a clothesline festooned with
various types of underwear) at an antiuranium rally at the BC legislature.
They continued with protests against nuclear-armed ships and soon became
involved in actions related to issues such as self-determination for
indigenous peoples, affordable housing, and child poverty. Before long the
movement spread eastward in Canada and eventually throughout the
United States; there are now almost 100 individual gaggles in North America
and reports of gaggles in Australia, Greece, Israel, Japan, and the U.K.
(Raging Grannies, n.d.).
In North America, at least, the great majority of members are White and
middle-class. Men are not permitted to join, though there have been
instances of supportive spouses and partners participating as grumpy
grandpas at rages or contributing their lyric-writing talents to the cause.
Further, while there has been some debate as to whether a minimum age
limit for membership should be strictly imposed (Acker & Brightwell, 2004),
most of the members of the group are seen to be those who possess the
age, life experience, or wisdom (if not biological status) of grandmothers.
As the movement has grown, an ever-increasing variety of issues have been
addressed by its members. While no one gaggle has a monopoly on any
one cause, moreover, an individual gaggle may have its own unique focus,
and protesting the war in Iraq appears to be particularly galvanizing for
many Grannies in the U.S.
Today, individual Grannies and gaggles share songs and support
through a newsletter (The Granny Grapevine), general Web site (http://
raginggrannies.org), and electronic mailing list (Granny E-Vine). Grannies
also meet annually or biannually at gatherings called Unconventions.
Either regional or international in scope, these meetings involve activities
ranging from song-writing workshops to network and nap sessions, with
small group discussions on topics such as consensus-based decision making
and public relations. Despite such resources and gatherings, however, the
Grannies are a movement with no centralized structure; gaggles are inde-
pendent and informal units that are themselves most often organized nonhi-
erarchically. To a certain degree the heterogeneity of the movement is
expressed in local variations on the typical Granny garb (e.g., the Victoria,
BC Grannies trademark feather boas or the Rochester Grannies demure
black-base outfits), though otherwise their stereotypical Granny costumes
have made these women increasingly recognizable as activists in protests
throughout North America.
 The Raging Grannies 175

DATA AND METHODS

In this qualitative research, data were gathered from a variety of sources to

ensure triangulation (Patton, 2002). I reviewed works written by the Raging
Grannies, including published and unpublished song books (Edmonton
Raging Grannies, 2005; McLaren & Brown, 1993; Raging Grannies, 2006b)
and CD lyric sheets (Raging Grannies, 2006a; Ryder, 2005). I was also a
participant observer at the Grannies International Unconvention in
Windsor, Ontario, in June, 2006. Prior to that time, I had seen the Grannies
perform at several events related to social justice around southern Ontario.
More recently I was granted permission to join the Granny E-Vine, and have
reviewed current and archived posts to that electronic mailing list. Finally, I
conducted a series of interviews with members of the organization.
From July 2005 to January 2006, I interviewed 15 women who had each
participated in a Granny gaggle for a minimum of 1 year. I solicited their
participation through gaggle contacts gleaned from the Grannies Web sites
and through snowball sampling. Each participant consented in writing to
participate in the study, which was approved by my university research
ethics board. Participants were given the option to remain anonymous or to
select their own name/pseudonym for publication purposes. I interviewed
12 women in Ontario, 1 in Michigan, and 2 in New York, and the Grannies
lived and were active in both small towns and large urban centers. I inter-
viewed 4 Grannies over the phone and the remaining Grannies in person,
either in my university office, in their homes or, in the case of one Granny,
in a public park. The age of the Grannies in my sample at the time of their
interview ranged from 45 to 81 (2 in their mid-late 40s, 3 in their 50s, 5 in
their 60s, 4 in their 70s, and 1 in her 80s). Of my sample, all were White and
slightly more than half were retired. The participants current and former
occupations reflected a predominantly middle-class profile; for example,
there were 3 teachers, 2 social workers, and 2 nurses among the sample.
The interviews were semistructured and open-ended, and they ranged
in length from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. All the interviews were based on a
series of questions about the nature and extent of the participants involve-
ment in the Grannies (e.g., How long have you been with the Grannies?
Do you have any particular responsibilities in your gaggle?), the impor-
tance of the Grannies phenomenon (e.g., What in your opinion is the
significance of the Grannies for you personally? For other participants? For
society in general?), and the relevance of the grandmother symbol or role
in Granny activism (e.g., Do you think that the grandmother symbol is
important in terms of your activism? Does it influence your relations with
people inside or outside the movement [such as observers, police, or
politicians]?). A research assistant transcribed the interviews, and copies of
the transcripts were sent to the participants to give them the opportunity to
read and edit the transcript if desired, and to allow quotations from the
176 D. Sawchuk

(edited) transcripts to be used by me for purposes of presentation and

publication. I then systematically reviewed the transcripts three times for
the purposes of coding (Neuman, 2000; Strauss, 1987). During the first
review, the transcripts were open coded to generate a list of potential
themes in the data. During the second pass through the material the codes
were reviewed, reorganized, and consolidated, and a highlighter was used to
mark related evidence blocks in the transcripts. A third and more selective
coding of the transcripts resulted in the finalization of research themes that
were then cross-referenced with themes detected in Granny writings and
song lyrics.

FINDINGS
Older Women as Activists: Roles and Responsibilities
Many of the participants were aware of the fact that, by virtue of their being
activists, they were challenging common stereotypes of older women.
Distinctions were made between the Grannies and the images of the harm-
less old granny snoring in her rocking chair (Granny Jane). Granny Susan
also contrasted the reality of the Raging Grannies with the restrictive image
of the grandmother who is sweet and kind and never raises her voice, who
stays home and babysits and cleans the house and bakes pies. And as
Granny Wendy pointed out, the very name Raging Granny is an oxymoron
of sorts, since grannies are not supposed to act outraged. As Granny Jane
summarized, were blasting stereotypes all over.
Despite their acknowledgement of the inaccuracy of the little old lady
stereotype, however, some women also suggested there was a grain of truth
to the stereotype of the self-absorbed and politically apathetic older adult.
Granny Anonymous, for example, appears to argue that there is some
credence to such a stereotype when she comments derisively that so often
you hear seniors say that well, Ive worked hard all my life. Ive paid my
taxes. I deserve this, and I deserve that. Granny Joan also notes that
comfortable retired people are difficult to mobilize because they dont
want to make waves: Its very frustrating. . . . Theyve worked hard all their
lives and now theyre taking it easy, they dont want to hear about all this
[social justice] stuff. The Grannies, on the other hand, see themselves as
those who have recognized that there is more to life than sitting around
and moaning and groaning (Granny Joan), playing cards and griping
about the weather (Granny Anonymous), or line dancing and bingo
(Granny Molly). In fact, a common assertion was that older citizens have a
responsibility to become politically involved, not only because they have
the experience (wisdom) that the years have afforded them but also
because they frequently have more free time at their disposal than younger
people who are wrapped up in their careers and raising children.
 The Raging Grannies 177

Given this sense of responsibility, many of the Grannies argued that, as

older women or grandmothers, they were particularly well positioned to
become politically involved. Several women framed this involvement as
action on behalf of their grandchildren or future generations in general,
something they saw as a traditional responsibility of grandmothers. Many
women also commented on the wisdom and respect often associated with
grandmothers. As Granny Phyllis proclaimed, grandmothers have earned
the right to be a bit teachy and preachy.
The grandmother identity itself was also reported to empower many
Grannies and to encourage them to act in ways they would otherwise not
act. According to Granny Phyllis, the costumes and collective identity of the
grandmothers gave the activists the freedom from being centered out as
individuals. A common theme among the women was also the notion that,
since they were of a certain age, they could act with much less fear of
reprisal. As Granny Susan noted, since Grannies were older they had
nothing to lose. . . . Youre not so worried about what the neighbors might
say or think about your being on the evening news and so you can just go
ahead and take a stand on some issues. According to Granny Patricia:

Being a grandmother is belonging to the generation of women who are

past the years of needing anyones permission to do anything . . . a
grandmother is just her own person. Each decade that passes seems to
be that I become more and more my own person, and follow less and
less the shoulds or the expectations and the cultural mores.

Granny Anonymous also observed that people are freer to say what they
think as they get older. You know, youve kind of waded through the
bullshit of your forties and thirties and stuff; you can just say what you
think. Although some women lamented that respect for grandmothers had
diminished in current society and others recognized that older women in
general are often written off, undervalued, and passed over (Granny
Pauline), overall the Grannies maintained that their age, gender, and grand-
mother statuses remained assets and not liabilities in their political struggles.

Unexpected Tools and Techniques

The movement tools and tactics employed by the Grannies also serve to
challenge common stereotypes of older adults. At the most basic level,
and in contrast to ageist images of technophobic grandparents, the use of
computer technology is well established among the Grannies. Both the
international Raging Grannies Web site and many local gaggle Web sites
are multilayered and well maintained. E-mail is the favored means of
communication among Grannies. Further, the Granny E-Vine electronic
mailing list is well used (with 163 subscribers and consistently more than
178 D. Sawchuk

30 posts a month), and discussions of MP3s and MP3 players (for down-
loading and sharing unfamiliar tunes) are not unknown. Most recently,
some New York City Grannies have established a presence on MySpace,
a social networking site generally considered to be the domain of teenag-
ers and young adults. Acknowledging the common perception that older
people are technologically inept, but summarizing the Grannies exten-
sive use of computers, Granny Elaine commented, Were old, but were
fairly savvy.
The practice of showing up uninvited to venues further challenges
what some might expect from women of the Raging Grannies generation.
Sometimes Grannies do join with like-minded activists at demonstrations or
are invited to perform at events sponsored by those sympathetic to Granny
causes. However, they also frequently crash military recruitment centers
(and attempt to enlist) or government proceedings (the Parliament Hill
Mob, the Ottawa Grannies gaggle, is known for storming the seat of the
Canadian federal government). Commenting on her gaggle being asked to
leave a city hall meeting, Granny Judy was unapologetic: Get over it: Push
comes to shove, well sing where we want. . . . We go where were not
invited. While Grannies are coached for such activities and their conse-
quences during Unconvention workshops on topics such as Civil Disobe-
dience and Civil Liberties: When the FBI Comes Knocking, several
Grannies have been arrested and some gaggles have been the subject of
federal surveillance (Acker & Brightwell, 2004; Barber & Shukovsky, 2006;
MacQuarrie, 2007). Although one might expect the Grannies to be resentful
or fearful of such treatment, moreover, the Grannies remain resolute and
bemused. Thus the Edmonton, Alberta, Raging Grannies challenge, Try
and put the lid on, try to shut us up, Pepper spray wont do itnothing
makes us stop (Edmonton Raging Grannies, 2005, p. 23) and the Seattle,
Washington, gaggle jests:

Raging Grannies are Conspiring (Tune: Ive Been Working on the

Railroad)

Raging Grannies are conspiring

To make their audience laugh
Satire is so very frightening
Its clearly a terrorist path.

Lyrics by Laurie Rostholder (Raging Grannies, 2006a)

Despite various forms of resistance to their presence and message, then, the
Grannies have persisted in their political struggles and have preserved their
irreverent sense of humor.
 The Raging Grannies 179

Embracing Aging
Although in some respects the Grannies challenge common assumptions
about aging through their activities, in other ways the Grannies appear to
embrace their senior-citizen image. In a culture in which many turn to
Botox and plastic surgery in attempts to conceal physical evidence of
aging, the Grannies flaunt their status as older women. This can be seen
not only in their Granny costumes, but also in their staging of knit-ins or
their incorporation of rocking- and wheelchairs into protests. Moreover,
the lyrics to several of their songs (which, significantly, are themselves
unapologetically based on older tunes) are defiant in the face of the
cultural devaluation of older women and their bodies. Note the following
verses, for example:

Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be? (Tune: Oh Dear What Can the
Matter Be?)

Oh Dear, what can the matter be?

Weve been attacked by the forces of gravity.
Fat has appeared where there once was concavity.
Nobody said life was fair.
...
Older women are thought unattractive,
Theyre shunned as if they were radioactive.
They jiggle so when they become active.
Its back to that old rocking chair
Well, these gray mares, we aint what we used to be.
Weve given up on respectability.
Dont give a fig for acceptability.
Were far too AWESOME to care.

Lyrics by Alison Acker (Acker & Brightwell, 2004, p. 38)

The often taboo subject of menopause was also parodied by one gaggle
when they performed at a healthy sexualities conference:

Men-o-pause (Tune: Three Blind Mice)

Men-o-pause, men-o-pause
See how we change, see how we change
We all get wrinkles, our hair turns gray
Your youthful self seems far away
180 D. Sawchuk

We roam all night and fart all day

Men-o-pause (Granny Judy, personal files)

Far from denying or concealing the effects of aging on their bodies, then,
the Grannies exaggerate and poke fun at what are seen by many in
mainstream society as undesirable physical characteristics and conditions.
The fact that this movement also attracts a subgroup of members in their
50s and even 40s speaks to an interesting countercultural phenomenon:
women who look forward to aging. Thus Pauline, a 53-year-old Granny,
declares that she enjoys hanging out with older women and that she
looks forward to being older. Granny Jane, a 45-year-old who has been
accused by outsiders to the movement as not being old enough to be a
granny, states that she has always wanted to be a Granny when I grow
up. Granny Anonymous, age 50, also looks forward to her retirement years
(when she says she will have more time to be involved in social justice
issues) and sees the older grannies as role models. Although this subgroup
is relatively limited in numbers, these more middle-aged Grannies are not
only embracing an aged status through their participation in this movement,
they are also speeding up the aging process by donning the symbolic
costumes of much older women well before their time.

Gaining a Strategic Advantage

The Grannies claim that they use their identity strategically in several
manners that serve to improve movement efficacy. The general power of
the Granny image is summed up nicely by Granny Anonymous, who notes
that

I guess you cant say bad things about grandmothers. . . . Grandmothers

are perfect, wonderful, loving. . . . You know its like firefighters, you
cant say anything bad, all they do is good. So were really banking on
that kind of image and that kind of persona. . . . Its very powerful.

Moreover, although a couple of the Grannies reported that their grand-

mother identity rendered them vulnerable to dismissal as silly old ladies,
most indicated that the grandmother identity served somewhat of a protec-
tive function for themselves and other activists. In several cases, Grannies
reported that being dressed up as grandmothers served as a buffer zone
between themselves and the police who were hesitant to tell their elders to
move it along at protests. Several Grannies expressed sentiments similar to
Granny Vicki, who commented that: Nobodys going to put a little old lady
in handcuffs. . . . Whos going to arrest or beat up a little old grandmother?
Granny Jane noted that arresting a Granny would be a public relations
nightmare for the police: It would look very bad on the national news to
 The Raging Grannies 181

be dragging eccentric looking grannies off in handcuffs. The Grannies also

on occasion exploit their identity to protect their activist allies. Granny
Pauline, for example, reported the story of the 2001 antiglobalization
protests at the Quebec City Summit of the Americas: Several Grannies
locked arms and stood between police and young protesters and were
thereby successful in protecting the latter from being seriously harassed or
dragged off by officials.
Finally, the grandmother identity being constructed by the Grannies
was characterized by several of the participants as being more effective in
transmitting movement messages than other, more traditional, modes of
activism (most of the Grannies were significantly involved in other forms of
activism or party politics prior to and alongside their participation in the
Grannies). In a switch from other forms of political activism in which older
women are often underrepresented and their opinions undervalued, many
Grannies posited that it was easier to get their point across as Grannies.
Interviewees claimed a variety of reasons for this. Some thought that it had
to do with the fact that the Grannies, in their outrageous and eye-catching
costumes, make for good press and thus often attract media attention for
their messages. Others noted that, because of their innocuous and humor-
ous little old lady personas, the Grannies often get invited to events from
which other activists would be shunned. Once they had gained the prover-
bial foot in the door, however, they could barge right in to sing out their
critiques. A couple of Grannies also pointed out that they were successful in
garnering attention simply because they provided a fresh and humorous
alternative to the talking heads (Granny Phyllis; Granny Pauline). As
Granny Judy put it: we dont have to dress in business suits to make our
point; we dont have to be the leaders of mega-corporations. According to
Granny Susan, in many cases it is simply good enough to be a Granny to be
heard.

DISCUSSION

This study has focused on the multifaceted nature of the Raging Grannies
political activism. Findings illustrate the variety of ways in which members
of this social movement challenge common stereotypes of older women. As
opposed to popular images of older women as mild-mannered and meek,
the Grannies emerge as outspoken and gutsy. Such findings confirm the
assertions of scholars such as Roy (2004; 2007), who chronicles how the
Grannies run contrary to societal expectations of silent and sweet older
women. But they also expand upon such work by emphasizing movement
members self-awareness of their challenges to restrictive stereotypes about
aging. This work also explores how the tools of Granny activism themselves
contain further correctives to widespread assumptions about older people.
182 D. Sawchuk

Their extensive reliance on computer technologies, for example, is one way

in which the Grannies prove that older citizens are not as out of touch as
is often assumed. The Grannies embracing of the aging process and their
elderly status in song and dress further provides a contrast to assumptions
that growing old is something to be feared, hidden, and prevented if at all
possible. These latter findings are an intriguing alternative to research that
has emphasized how older women seek to distance themselves from the
category of old (Hurd, 1999). Simultaneously, they resonate with the
recent insights of Hutchinson and Wexler (2007) that the Grannies
intentional and exaggerated granny persona exemplifies the notion of a
mask of aging that resists societal constructions of old age (Conway &
Hockey, 1998; Hepworth, 2004, as cited in Hutchinson & Wexler, 2007).
In addition, this case study of the Raging Grannies helps to correct
certain imbalances in the social movements literature. Despite theoretical
claims that retirees are relatively mobilizable because of their lack of
attachment to the labor market (Offe, 1985), there are surprisingly few
studies of political activism among senior citizens. Work on older
womens political activism is even scarcer. This study of the Grannies can
help to fill such an empirical gap. At the same time, the Grannies them-
selves challenge the assumption that those participating in new social
movementsmovements in which the question of identity is prominent
are disproportionately represented by the coming-of-age generation
(Johnston, Laraa, & Gusfield, 1994). While the Grannies are clearly not
engaged in the search for identity so typical of youth, they do appear to
be significantly involved in a process of identity reclamation and recon-
struction (of older women, of grandmothers) and therefore deserve both
placement and scholarly consideration as part of the highly diversified
new social movement spectrum.
I would argue, moreover, that this should be the case regardless of
the fact that an explicit feminist or antiageist identity politics does not
register on the Grannies agenda, but rather emerges as a by-product of
their struggle on broader social justice issues. We need to consider that a
movements intended political impact (e.g., ending the war in Iraq) may
differ from its actual cultural outcomes (e.g., a change in perceptions of
older women). On this score, and despite the fact that the Grannies have
sometimes sought to distance themselves from members of the Red Hat
Society (Radina, Lynch, Stalp, & Manning, 2008) (for what the former
judge to be the latters apolitical stance and their heavily merchandized
bent), it might be worth investigating whether there are similarities in the
ways members of each group challenge traditional assumptions about
women and aging.
Limitations of this study stem in part from the relatively small and
homogeneous sample, although it should be noted that the movement as a
whole appears to lack ethnic and socioeconomic diversity (a characteristic
 The Raging Grannies 183

that was lamented and discussed at the 2006 Unconvention). The

demographic parallels to second-wave feminism are obvious, and it remains
to be seen whether diversity will characterize future gaggles of Grannies
much in the same way that it has contemporary feminism. Future research
could seek to uncover reasons for and the implications of such homogene-
ity; it would also be interesting to compare the demographic profile of the
Grannies with that of groups such as the Red Hat Society. Another limitation
of this study is related to the fact that only members of the Raging Grannies
themselves were interviewed. Assessing outsiders perceptions of the Raging
Grannies would be a further way to explore whether and how stereotypes
of older women have been broken. Additional research could assess what
type of effect the positive images of aging portrayed by the Grannies have
upon those witnessing their actions. For example, can exposure to the
models of aging embodied by the Grannies lessen the anxiety of younger
women about the aging process (much as exposure to illness through the
caregiving of older relatives has been argued to increase womens anxiety
about their own aging [Cummings, Kropf, & DeWeaver, 2000])? Participants
repeated assertion that their grandmotherly identities serve a protective
function also deserves scrutiny, especially since in recent years more arrests
of members have been reported. Perhaps as the Grannies reputation and
boldness grow, the protective function of the grandmother identity has
waned, or perhaps the strategic efficacy of this persona has always been
less than assumed.
Such questions aside, the Raging Grannies do appear to have accom-
plished a lot. By their very existence, they challenge us to revisit our
assumptions about social movement activism and about the role of older
women in that activism and in society more generally. Through their bold
behavior, they expand the often restrictive identities ascribed to senior
women. Through their uninhibited exploration of their elderly status, they
challenge the mainstream stigma associated with old age. And through their
unashamed exploitation of their grandmotherly identities, they introduce us
to new and potentially powerful ways to mobilize for justice.

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.
184 D. Sawchuk

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