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From Amazon
An insightful, witty, and well-written analysis of the effects of mass-media on women in late 20th-century American culture. Douglas cuts through the fluff that spews from the tube with a finely-honed sense of the absurd that can forever change (or minimally, inform) how you perceive the changing portrayals of women by the media. The only book I know of that has been given highest recommendations by Gloria Steinem, The McLaughlin Group, and Amazon.com.
From Publishers Weekly
In this insightful study of how the American media has portrayed women over the past 50 years, Douglas ( Inventing American Broadcasting: 1899-1922 ) considers the paradox of a generation of women raised to see themselves as bimbos becoming the very group that found its voice in feminism. Modern American women, she suggests, have been fed so many conflicting images of their desires, aspirations and relationships with men, families and one another that they are veritable cultural schizophrenics, uncertain of what they want and what society expects of them. A single image--Diana Ross of the Supremes, for example, or Gidget from the popular sitcom--can send mixed signals, Douglas shows, at once affirming a woman's right to a voice and cautioning her not to go too far. Thus the media is often both a liberating and an oppressive force. Douglas is particularly attentive to the ways pop culture's messages have responded to shifting social and economic imperatives, including the feminist movement itself. While she asserts that pop culture can have a profound impact on one's self-perceptions, she also stresses that women, by the example of their own lives, have changed--mostly for the better--the way the media represents them. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
In the fall of 1957, the kids of America were castigated by political leaders, newspaper columnists, their teachers, and, worst of all, their Weekly Readers. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
In the fall of 1957, the kids of America were castigated by political leaders, newspaper columnists, their teachers, and, worst of all, their Weekly Readers. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
easy to read, but...,
By Carlie (Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (Paperback)
this book is very readable, but I found if you do not know much about the tv shows she talks about, it really isn't that interesting or imforative. I do know a bit about I Dream of Jeanie and Bewitched, so I found the particular chapter on these two tv shows very informative. However, some of the other chapters seemed a bit dull if I had no other knowledge of the shows, movies, etc that were being talked about. Don't get me wrong, it is very readable, but for me it was harder to stay with it if I had no prior to fall back on. Also, maybe it was me, but I don't know if it went deep enough into the issue of mass media and how it reflects on women.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Unfair review by uniformed republican from Alabama,
By A Customer
This review is from: Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (Paperback)
To begin with, feminism is about finding a suitable subject position for "female", "feminine", "woman." Douglas explores the subject position of the feminine in pop culture -- and does it rather well. Some attacks listed here are uninformed about the purposes of feminism, or assume that feminism is designed to do something anti-male. For instance, "Harpe" you claim that "Government-funded child care, taxpayer-supported abortions, national health insurance, Social Security for homemakers, and many other socialist policies" are socialistic rather than feministic. But maybe that's because your idea of what feminism is remains limited to the outmoded belief that feminism is about equal rights with men (well, white men). What Susan Douglas does here IS feminism and the only way your Civil War nostalgic mind can get past it is to disregard it as socialist (and since when did social responsibility become a BAD thing?). The things Douglas addresses in this book support equality not special privileges -- for instance funding for homemakers provides security should the heteronormic imperative (also known as marriage) fail or be, gasp, undesirable. Why do some readers fail to see that it is men who have special rights by having independence from domesticity in a way that women do not have (particularly in Alabama -- I know, I live here too). For those of you who might have picked this book up to find out "Where the Girls are" for your own misogynistic reasons, put it down now; go read something like Susan Bordo's _The Male Body_; find out what feminism REALLY is and what it hopes to achieve; then come back and read Douglas's book. Until then, vote for Bush and Riley, admire Thomas Jefferson, attend a Civil War re-enactment and stay out of the new millennium.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Women Portrayed Unrealistically on TV,
By
This review is from: Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (Paperback)
I have read some of this book, and I know what writer Susan Douglas means when she talks about how the media unrealistically portrays women. Take, for example, today's commercials. Even though we are already in the 21st century, the commercials I see on TV look like they never left the 50s. Just about every commercial for food, baby, cleaning, and other products portrays women as wives and mothers. These commercials constantly say, "Moms know...", "Moms need...", or "Mama's got the magic...". These commercials give the impression that every woman out there is a wife and a mom. Needless to say, that's TV, not reality. Not every woman in real life is a mom or wife. Some, like me, are neither. In addition, a lot of us (even the married ones with kids) work outside the home. We women know what we're really like, and we don't buy those unrealistic images.
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