Girlhood

Building on the work of emerging scholarship on the girl group era of the 1950s and 1960s, this paper further illuminates the extent to which the girl groups challenged dominant discourses and hegemonic ideas of girlhood. By analyzing girl group songs which were both commercially popular and relatively obscure this paper reveals the incredible diversity within a genre that has sometimes been homogenized. Moreover, the paper highlights instances, both on record and in history, where girl group performers demonstrated resistance to the concept of the idealized girl. Feminist rhetoric, transgendered fantasies, same-sex relationships, inter-racial and inter-class romance, leftist and pacifist protest, murder, physical abuse, consensual pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancy, and date-rape were all subjects which were addressed in lyrics. And though girl group performers rarely wrote their own material, instances where these types of lyrics were present featured a disproportionate number of female songwriters and self-written material by group members.

Memory and storytelling can provide valuable tools for media scholars aiming to better understand popular media audiences from a historical perspective. Girls’ stories are particularly important because they have been absent from most official recorded history and archived documents. In this study, we
interview 30 U.S. women born 1918–1948 in order to uncover their girlhood experiences with mid-20th Century media. Their narratives reveal 1) a shared experience of radio listening; 2) an emphasis on the ‘‘experience’’ of using media artifacts rather than on the content; and 3) the appeal of music and dance as a girlhood pastimes.

Bratz dolls, popular among pre-adolescent girls, have been the subject of widespread criticism. Many scholars, activists, educators, and parents have argued that the scantily clad fashion dolls contribute to the sexualization of girls that has been decried by the American Psychological Association, among others. As is often the case in studies of girls’ popular culture, however, these conversations about the problems with Bratz have rarely incorporated the voices of girls in the brand’s target audience. To address this gap, this article analyzes an afternoon of Bratz doll play by a small group of African-American girls, aged between 8 and 10 years. Th is article suggests that although critical concerns about Bratz’ sexualization are warranted, the dolls’ racial diversity may benefi t some girls’ play, enabling them to productively negotiate complex issues of racial identity, racism, and history while paying little attention to the dolls’ sexualized traits.

This chapter seeks to interrogate normative notions of at-risk girlhood and violence, offering a roadmap for a broader terminology and reconceptualization of gender in girlhood studies. I argue that studying the knowledge produced by girl-driven activist organizations enables activist-scholars to rethink what constitutes girlhood from a perspective critical of how criminalized, homeless and street-involved, and incarcerated girls and gender non-conforming youth have been disciplined, managed, corrected, and punished as prisoners, patients, mothers, and victims of multiple, interconnected forms of violence through imprisonment, medicalization, and secure care. By showcasing case studies of anti-violence and abolitionist activism that contest sexual violence, colonial state control, and carceral state violence undertaken by girls whose identities stretch far beyond normative gender and racial binaries, I aim to frame a transnational discussion of girls' community activism within and against exclusionary notions of what constitutes girlhood and girls' social justice activism.

Nineteenth-century girlhood was imagined as a decisive period of liminality: distinct from both childhood and adulthood, it shaped the womanhood that followed it. Shipboard diaries written by emigrants engage with a similar period of transformation. Discussing three diaries written by girls en route from Scotland and Ireland to New Zealand, this essay explores how the liminality of girlhood and the liminality of the emigrant voyage are intertwined. While narrating a spatial and temporal transition, the three texts also negotiate a transformation in the concept of girlhood: the notion of the ideal colonial girl as brave, resourceful and hardworking developed traditional British expectations of women as responsible for the domestic sphere and as upholders of morals. Whereas two of the diarists stress qualities such as bravery, a sense of adventure, and good health, the third diarists focuses on a more traditional concept of girls as pure and virtuous. The texts’ adherence to and departures from the genre conventions of shipboard diaries emphasise the liminality of the journey, mirroring the transformative potential of new notions of girlhood.

Haul videos are a unique vlogging format that is based on showing and reviewing a so called ‘haul’, which consists the outcome of shopping sessions. Haul vloggers are micro- and ordinary celebrities that have a large fan base, especially among female teens.

Sonam Doomtso (b. 1987) describes her lived experiences and recollections encompassing the first twenty years of her life. These include living on the grassland in Sichuan Province, experiences with relatives and neighbors; attending schools; moving to Lhasa; religious fasting; pilgrimage; encounters with marmot hunters; attending school in Xining City; and the death of her beloved grandfather.