Where the Girls are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media
- ISBN-10
- 0812922069
- ISBN-13
- 9780812922066
- Category
- Social Science / Popular Culture
- Pages
- 340
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1994
- Publisher
- Times Books
- Authors
- Susan Jeanne Douglas, Professor Susan J Douglas
Description
Where the Girls Are is a romp through the confusing and contradictory images of women in American pop culture, as media critic Susan J. Douglas looks back at the television programs, popular music, advertising, and nightly news reports of the past four decades to reveal the decidedly mixed messages conveyed to girls and women coming of age in America. In a humorous and provocative analysis of our postwar cultural heritage (never losing sight of the essential ludicrousness of flying nuns or identical cousins), Douglas deconstructs these ambiguous messages and fathoms their influence on her own life and the lives of her contemporaries. Douglas tells the story of young women growing up on a steady diet of images that implicitly acknowledged their concerns without directly saying so. It is no accident, she argues, that "girl groups" like the Shirelles emerged in the early 1960s, singing sexually charged songs like "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"; or that cultural anxiety over female assertiveness showed up in sitcoms like Bewitched whose heroines had magical powers; or that the news coverage of the Equal Rights Amendment degenerated into a spat among women, absolving men of any responsibility - a pattern mirrored in shows like Dallas and Dynasty, where male amorality was overshadowed by the cat-fights between Joan Collins and Linda Evans. And yet for all the images that reinforced a traditional view of servile and dependent women, Douglas powerfully reveals how American mass culture also undermined these images by offering countless examples of girls and women who were actors in the wider world and who controlled their own destinies. In fact, it was the kitsch images of the 1950s and '60s thatparadoxically helped to create a genuine feminist consciousness in the 1970s and '80s. The Ronettes, Gidget, and Charlie's Angels may seem unlikely feminist heroines, but Douglas reclaims them as cultural touchstones for contemporary women trying to make sense of their own lives. Her lively narrative is sure to provoke laughter and wonderment over why no one else had ever noticed these things about America's popular culture. "We must rewatch and relisten", writes Douglas, "but with a new mission: to go where the girls are. It's time to reclaim a past too frequently ignored, hooted at, and dismissed, because it is in these images of women that we find the roots of who we are now". With warmth, wit, and a keen eye for the absurd, Where the Girls Are supplies a crucial missing chapter in the cultural history of our time.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Where the Grass Is Green and the Girls Are Pretty: A Novel
By Lauren WeisbergerNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BUZZ PICK • From the bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada and When Life Gives You Lululemons comes a highly entertaining, sharply observed novel about sisters, their perfect lives ...
-
The Girls: A Novel
By Emma ClineDebut novels like this are rare, indeed.”—The Washington Post “Hypnotic.”—The Wall Street Journal “Gorgeous.”—Los Angeles Times “Savage.”—The Guardian “Astonishing.”—The Boston Globe “Superbly written ...
-
The Girls are Coming
By Peggie CarlsonAccording to Carlson, this unspoken question lurked in the minds of the male workers at a Minnesota natural gas company called Minnegasco when four women were hired in compliance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Act in 1974.
-
The Girls I've Been
By Tess SharpeSoon to be a Netflix film starring Millie Bobbie Brown! In this feminist, suspenseful thriller the daughter of a con artist is taken hostage in a bank heist—and will need to tap into all her skills in order to survive.
-
Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals...
By Rachel LloydAnd, with great humanity, she lovingly shares the stories of the girls whose lives she has helped—small victories that have healed her wounds and made her whole. Revelatory, authentic, and brave, Girls Like Us is an unforgettable memoir.
-
Where the Drowned Girls Go
By Seanan McGuireIn Where the Drowned Girls Go, the next addition to Seanan McGuire's beloved Wayward Children series, students at an anti-magical school rebel against the oppressive faculty "Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute.
-
Where Girls Come First: The Rise, Fall, and Surprising Revival of Girls' Schools
By Ilana DebareA history of the phenomenon of girls' schools in America is accompanied by the author's personal account of building a school that celebrates the benefits of single-sex education, an insightful overview of the modern-day debate over single ...
-
The Care and Keeping of You Journal 1: For Younger Girls
By Cara NattersonThis companion to our bestselling book, The Care & Keeping of You, received its own all-new makeover!
-
The Girls: A Novel
By Emma ClineDebut novels like this are rare, indeed.”—The Washington Post “Hypnotic.”—The Wall Street Journal “Gorgeous.”—Los Angeles Times “Savage.”—The Guardian “Astonishing.”—The Boston Globe “Superbly written ...
-
The Girl Who Saved Yesterday
By Julius LesterSilence, sent on a mysterious mission by the ancient trees that raised her after she was sent away from her village, reconnects the villagers with their forgotten ancestors.