Where the Girls Are Growing Up Female with the Mass...

Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media by Susan Douglas In Where the girls are: Growing Up Female With the Mass Media, Susan Douglas analyses the effects of mass media on women of the nineteen fifties, and more importantly on the teenage girls of the baby boom era. Douglas explains why women have been torn in conflicting directions and are still struggling today to identify themselves and their roles. Douglas recounts and dissects the ambiguous messages imprinted on the feminine psyche via the media. Douglas maintains that feminism is a direct result of the realization that mass media is a deliberate and calculated aggression against women. While the media seemingly begins to acknowledge the power of†¦show more content†¦They were born in great numbers and as a result became the most powerful group of consumers. Advertisers soon set the guidelines to what material commercial products every girl needed to obtain her status in society. Women’s role s on television gradually changed from perfect housewives to mystical genies and witches with power, but somehow they always subdued their power to please their men. In the background women were fighting for equal rights and equal pay, but the media portrayed these protests as isolated events and acts of extremists. The newscasts attempted to label feminists as women who protested against being exploited and â€Å"looked at† by exploiting themselves and secretly wanted men’s attention by these protests. Television did respond by developing a new â€Å"tougher† woman, but made her success dependent on her attractiveness and sexuality. The media’s simultaneous promotion and containment of the women’s movement left the young women of the seventies exposed to what Douglas refers to as social schizophrenia (9). Feminist were now rejecting cosmetics and other marketed ploys that contributed to the oppression of women, leaving industries that were pri marily focused on women’s â€Å"needs† struggling to address this while maintaining their market. Mass media encouraged and exploited commercial androgyny with unisex fashions and Madison Avenue promoted a new â€Å"natural look† that was anything but natural. This look promoted a Lolita image thatShow MoreRelated Barbie - A Complex American Icon Essay3507 Words   |  15 PagesAs a young girl, I was not very interested in playing with baby dolls. I preferred playing with my many stuffed animals or the only doll I did like—Barbie. With my animals, usually I was rescuing them from some horrible disaster such as a flood or a forest fire. I was their heroic savior and benevolent protector. But with Barbie this was decidedly not the case. 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