Thanks for the great reading selections. I was alternately seized with horror and laughter. I hope we have "come a long way baby" from some of these ideas.
Ideally, I think girlhood is the process of growing up which is individual to each girl. I think one of the goals is for the girl to identify her internal voice amidst all the tumult of her world and then be free to follow it. Can I say following any social construct isn't possible for an individual? Social constructs are based on generalizations and stereotypes, not individuals.
The Horror:
The contradictions of the Think Pink era are destructive. Being a housewife and mother and always being glamourous is impossible. I think a large part of the Think Pink or Ideal Woman culture was giving up all of oneself. No one could really maintain the ideal for any period of time; it was all an illusion. Perhaps that is the most horrifying part, not being able to be yourself but following someone else's construct.
The Laughter:
How to put on a swimming suit.
The girdles!
Oh no! My score on the "How Do You Rate as a Girl?" Quiz.
I remember the growing up years feeling galumpy not delicate.
Why study girlhood?
It's multidisciplinary: anthropology, history, psychology, etc.
It is at least half of the human experience.
Studying girlhood facilitates discourse communities by understanding self and others better.
There are no simple answers and the question go on and on!
As far as the articles are concerned,
I'd like to propose another possible origin of blue for boys and pink for girls with Gainsborough's "Blue Boy" and Lawrence's "Pinkie."
In "From Badness to Meanness" it seems that a higher rate of incarceration for females is a result of no longer downplaying or privately handling unladylike behavior. Women's actions have moved from a private to a public sphere. Is there also an element of less shame in saying a female did this to me as in the female partner perpetrating domestic abuse, or armed robbery, or so forth?
Hi Colleen--
ReplyDeleteWow--I re-read the "How Do You Rate As a Girl" quiz last night to make sure it wasn't a joke. I thought SURELY this wouldn't have been published this is just too dumb to assess someone by!
I also think "From Badness to Meanness" was interesting. In addition to your points, I wonder, too, if parental figures were less ashamed of saying they weren't able to 'control' their daughter. I wonder if fathers were able to kind of pick up their seemingly (self imposed view) of failed masculinity off the floor when dealing with a troublesome daughter in the past few years--I know fathers think they can always handle their daughters.
Hi Christine and Colleen-
ReplyDeleteI think one of my favorite things about doing research is how much purely crazy things you get to read. (That swimsuit thing is classic!) It's entertaining, but also a little sad. What will scholars be looking at in 2040 and thinking, "Really? They thought that about women?"
I know so much of it is crazy, but how much of it do we still "buy into"? I don't think I've known of a generation of women to worry more about their bodies - and maybe to feel trapped by the opportunity to "have it all".
"What will scholars be looking at in 2040 and thinking, "Really? They thought that about women?"...There has to be a Jersey Shore tie-in here somewhere, right? :-). Like, that Snooki somehow lives up to a certain ideal? I have never seen the show but have seen her on Letterman and in Rolling Stone.
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