Girlhood in America [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes] (The American Family)

In this comprehensive, readable, two volume encyclopedia, experts from a variety of disciplines contribute pieces to the puzzle of what it means?€”and what it has meant over the last 400 years?€”to be a girl in America. The portrait that emerges reveals deep differences in girls' experiences depending on socioeconomic context, religious and ethnic traditions, family life, schools, institutions, and the messages of consumer and popular culture.Girls have been commodified, idealized, trivialized, eroticized, and shaped by the powerful forces of popular culture, from Little Women to Barbie. Yet girls are also powerful co-creators of the culture that shapes them, often cleverly subverting it to their own purposes. From Pocahantas to punk rockers, girls have been an integral, if overlooked and undervalued, part of American culture. Girls Used To Be Second-class Citizens. Today They Are Coming Into Their Own. Still, Girlsʼ Lives, Their Experiences And Their Roles In The Social, Cultural, Economic And Political History Of The United States Have Been Widely Overlooked. This Groundbreaking Reference Work Presents More Than 100 Signed Articles By 98 High-profile Interdisciplinary Scholars, Covering Girlhood In North American From The First Settlements To The Present From A Multitude Of Historical Perspectives. Readers Will Find An Impressive Array Of Information, Research Data, Scholarly Interpretations And Observations. Girlhood In America Describes How Portrayals Of Girls In Childrenʼs Literature, Magazines, Movies, Toys, Music And Other Media Have Deeply Influenced Girlsʼ Perceptions Of Themselves And Examines Rites Of Passage In Multicultural Contexts. Excerpts From Diaries, Memoirs And Autobiographical Novels, Along With More Than 150 Photographs, Illustrate Girlsʼ Subjective Experiences Throughout History. V. 1. A-i -- V. 2. J-z. Miriam Forman-brunell, Editor ; Foreword By Susan Douglas. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Girls, who used to be second-class citizens, are now coming into their own. Still, girls' lives, their experiences, and their roles in the social, cultural, economic, and political history of the United States have been widely overlooked. This reference encyclopedia presents more than 100 signed articles by 98 high-profile interdisciplinary scholars, covering girlhood in North America from the first settlements to the present in a multitude of historical perspectives. Picking up where collections on "girls' culture" have left off, this 2-volume encyclopedia includes 120 topics that examine the everyday lives of girls of different ages, races, classes, sexualities, religions, ethnicities, and abilities. Readers will find an array of information, research data, scholarly interpretations, and observations on subjects including body image, daughters and mothers, fairy tales, mathematics and science, Nancy Drew, Puritan girls, Riot girls, sexual harassment, sports, and teen pregnancy. Volume 1 contains alphabetical entries from A-I; Volume 2 contains entries from J-Z. (BT) This groundbreaking reference work presents more than 100 articles by 98 high-profile interdisciplinary scholars, covering all aspects of girls'roles in American society, past and present.In this comprehensive, readable, two volume encyclopedia, experts from a variety of disciplines contribute pieces to the puzzle of what it means—and what it has meant over the last 400 years—to be a girl in America. The portrait that emerges reveals deep differences in girls'experiences depending on socioeconomic context, religious and ethnic traditions, family life, schools, institutions, and the messages of consumer and popular culture.Girls have been commodified, idealized, trivialized, eroticized, and shaped by the powerful forces of popular culture, from Little Women to Barbie. Yet girls are also powerful co-creators of the culture that shapes them, often cleverly subverting it to their own purposes. From Pocahantas to punk rockers, girls have been an integral, if overlooked and undervalued, part of American culture. In this comprehensive, readable, two volume encyclopedia, experts from a variety of disciplines contribute pieces to the puzzle of what it meansand what it has meant over the last 400 yearsto be a girl in America. The portrait that emerges reveals deep differences in girls' experiences depending on socioeconomic context, religious and ethnic traditions, family life, schools, institutions, and the messages of consumer and popular culture. Girls have been commodified, idealized, trivialized, eroticized, and shaped by the powerful forces of popular culture, from Little Women to Barbie. Yet girls are also powerful co-creators of the culture that shapes them, often cleverly subverting it to their own purposes. From Pocahantas to punk rockers, girls have been an integral, if overlooked and undervalued, part of American culture. Preliminaries......Page 1 Contents......Page 9 A-to-Z List of Entries......Page 11 Forward......Page 21 Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 24 Introduction......Page 30 Volume 1: Entries A to I......Page 36 Volume 2: Entries J to Z......Page 428 Bibliography......Page 748 Index......Page 806