Girls’ Sexualities and the Media

Kate Harper (PhD, Arizona State University) has published work in The Girlhood Studies Journal on the contradictory messages of female adolescence in the Nancy Drew mystery series, and her dissertation explores the discursive construction of the ideal girl and her non-ideal counterparts in popular girls’ series through the twentieth century. More broadly, her research interests include histories of girlhood and intersecting representations of sexuality, race, and class in literature and popular culture. Yasmina Katsulis (PhD, Yale University) is Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University. She is the author of Sex Work and the City: The Social Geography of Health and Safety in Tijuana, Mexico (2010) and has had her work published in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Men and Masculinities, and Women and Violence.Vera Lopez (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is Associate Professor in Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. She has had her work published in a number of journals, including Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Violence Against Women, Family Relations, Feminist Criminology, Criminal Justice & Behavior, and Journal of Early Adolescence.Georganne Scheiner Gillis, (PhD, Arizona State University) is the Head of Faculty and Associate Professor in Women and Gender Studies in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. She is the author of Signifying Female Adolescence: Film Representations and Fans 1920–1950 (2000) and has published articles on such topics as Sandra Dee, fan clubs, and the 1950s TV show, Queen for a Day. She is currently finishing a book, Haven for Hopefuls: The Hollywood Studio Club and Women in the Film Industry.

• Contents: Yasmina Katsulis/Vera Lopez/Kate Harper/Georganne Scheiner Gillis: Girls’ Sexualities and the Media: The Power of the Media – Georganne Scheiner Gillis: The Girls of Carvel: Adolescent Desire in Andy Hardy Films – Jennifer Helgren: «Sensible Safety Rules»: Class, Race, and Girls’ Sexual Vulnerability in the U.S. Print Media, 1950-1970 – Kate Harper: Snogging, Stereotypes, and Subversion: Girls’ Sexuality in the Harry Potter Series – Suzan Walters/Michael Kimmel: The Pleasures of Danger and the Dangers of Pleasure: The Inversion of Gender Relations in the Twilight Series – Catherine Driscoll: «She’s All That»: Girl Sexuality and Teen Film – Amanda Rossie: Wrecked and Redeemed: Religio-Political Pedagogy and MTV’s 16 and Pregnant – Elena Frank: Just Say Me? (Mis)representing Female Adolescent Sexual Agency on The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Kellie Burns/Cristyn Davies: Producing Girl Citizens as Agents of Health: An Analysis of HPV Media Campaigns in the United States – Isaac Gagné: «Hyperfeminine» Subcultures: Rethinking Gender Subjectivity and the Discourse of Sexuality Among Adolescent Girls in Contemporary Japan – Alvaro Jarrin: Favela Models: Sexual Virtue and Hopeful Narratives of Beauty in Brazil – Jillian Hernandez: «Chongas» in the Media: The Ethno-Sexual Politics of Latina Girls’ Hypervisibility – Jennifer Apple: Heteroflexibility: Female Performance and Pleasure – Deborah L. Tolman/Lyn Mikel Brown/Christin P. Bowman: «Hey Media, Back Off and Get Off My Body»: SPARK is Taking Sexy Back – Linda Charmaraman/Brittany Low: From Media Propaganda to De-Stigmatizing Sex: Exploring a Teen Magazine By, For, and About Girls – Amy Rutstein-Riley/Jenn Walker/Alice Diamond/Bonnie Bryant/Marie LaFlemme: «We’re All Straight Here»: Using Girls’ Groups and Critical Media Literacy to Explore Identity with Middle School Girls.

«This edited collection is a refreshing look at research that embraces the basic tenets of cultural studies work. It boldly explores the context (history) within which representations emerge, emphasizes the importance of audiences, and offers a feisty review of ways girls can talk back to the culture through resistance.» (Deb Merskin, Associate Professor, School of Journalism & Communication, University of Oregon; Co-Editor, Critical Thinking About Sex, Love, and Romance in the Mass Media)«This truly outstanding collection of essays – by pioneers as well as rising stars in the fields of girls, gender, sexuality, and media studies – sheds new light on the interaction of innumerable forces at work in regulating and resisting girls’ sexuality in popular media. The tripartite arrangement of the essays, which critically consider the intersection of girls’ age, class, race, ethnicities, nationalities, and sexualities, frames this comprehensive examination of popular representations of girls’ sexuality, girls’ reception and self re/presentations, as well as girls’ media literacy endeavors.The nuanced explorations of competing fears and fantasies about female adolescent sexuality in Twilight, Harry Potter, MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, and other discursive texts are sure to resonate with students who – along with the fictional and real girls whose voices are included in this collection – already reflect, resist, and/or reclaim media sexualization in their everyday lives.Instructors will find that, in addition to providing essential content, context, and concepts that scrutinize social anxieties and sexual agency, the variety of methods and theories reframing current debates in these essays will inform the research of the next generation of girls’ studies scholars.» (Miriam Forman-Brunell, Professor of History, Women, and Gender Studies, University of Missouri-Kansas City; Author, ʻBabysitters: An American History’; Editor, ʻThe Girls’ History and Culture Readers’)«This vibrant collection of essays makes a valuable contribution to girlhood studies and sexualities studies and helps to open up an important space for debate between them. Interdisciplinary, international, and attentive to the way power works intersectionally, Girls’ Sexualities and the Media is an exciting addition to the field.» (Rosalind Gill, King’s College London; Author, Gender and the Media; Co-Editor, ʻNew Femininities: Postfeminism, Neoliberalism, and Subjectivity’)