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Description

Riding the wave of a booming girl culture worldwide, this collection of girls' voices across the globe invites us to learn more about their varied girlhoods. From coming-of-age rituals in South Africa to the impact of computers and popular magazines on girls in Japan and Germany, Millennium Girls offers us a broader vision of girlhood around the world. Though a universal experience, girlhood is not always carefree. Instead, as this book documents, many girls are not valued for who they are, whether socially, culturally, or intellectually.

Despite the countless girls around the globe who remain voiceless, mostly white, middle-class girls in the United States and Britain have often been given their turn to speak about their lives. This emphasis on these girls, while important, cannot adequately explore the connections between them and girls around the world. In a society that is becoming increasingly globalized, Millennium Girls fills this gap, becoming essential reading for anyone interested in girls and women and the differences and similarities in girlhoods among varied cultures and societies.

Around the globe, girls often face bleak realities about their lives, careers, and families. In many cases, they are still second-class citizens, doubly marginalized by their age and gender. Girls are further marginalized because their lives are rarely taken seriously or are disregarded entirely; this is particularly true for girls living on the fringes of society because of their race, ethnicity, social class, or sexual orientation. For these reasons, girls become voiceless in many cultures, both inside and outside of the United States. Millennium Girls addresses this absence and creates a space for some of the girls, who have not been allowed or given an opportunity, to speak. Voices of girls in South Africa, Japan, Germany, Israel, and the United States blend together to create a unique portrait of shared and differing experiences of girlhood.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 Part I: Who's the Girl?
Chapter 3 What are Girls Made Of: Exploring the Symbolic Boundaries of Femininity in Two Cultures
Chapter 4 For Sale: A Girl's Life in the Global Economy
Chapter 5 Hasidic Girls: Daily Lives and Inner Worlds
Chapter 6 The Zulu Goddess and Her Virgin Daughters
Part 7 Part II: What Do Girls Want?
Chapter 8 "I'll Tell you What I Really/ Really Want": Girl Power and Self Identity in Britain
Chapter 9 Spice Girls' Talk: A Case Study in the Development of Gendered Identity
Chapter 10 Beyond Barbie: Fashioning a Market in Interactive Electronic Games for Girls
Chapter 11 Transforming Visions: A French Toast to an American Girlhood in Luc Besson's The Professional
Chapter 12 "Feeling Better" with BRAVO: German Girls and Their Popular Youth Magazine
Chapter 13 Pornography or Therapy?: Japanese Girls Creating the Yaoi Phenomenon
Chapter 14 Do Bad Girls Get a Bum Rap? Sexual Solutions and State Interventions

Product details

Published 29 Oct 1998
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 304
ISBN 9781461665809
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Contributor

Shelley Budgeon

Contributor

Kendall

Contributor

South Africa

Contributor

Dafna Lemish

Dafna Lemish is an Israeli media researcher in the…

Contributor

Kazuko Suzuki

Kazuko Suzuki is assistant professor of sociology…

Contributor

Karen Orr Vered

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