How Pop Culture Shapes the Stages of a Woman's Life
From Toddlers-in-Tiaras to Cougars-on-the-Prowl
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
How Pop Culture Shapes the Stages of a Woman's Life
From Toddlers-in-Tiaras to Cougars-on-the-Prowl
About this book
Contemporary popular culture has created a slew of stereotypical roles for girls and women to (willingly or not) play throughout their lives: The Princess, the Nymphette, the Diva, the Single Girl, the Bridezilla, the Tiger Mother, the M.I.L.F, the Cougar, and more. In this book Ames and Burcon investigate the role of cultural texts in gender socialization at specific pre-scripted stages of a woman's life (from girls to the "golden girls") and how that instruction compounds over time. By studying various texts (toys, magazines, blogs, tweets, television shows, Hollywood films, novels, and self-help books) they argue that popular culture exists as a type of funhouse mirror constantly distorting the real world conditions that exist for women, magnifying the gendered expectations they face. Despite the many problematic, conflicting messages women receive throughout their lives, this book also showcases the ways such messages are resisted, allowing women to move past the blurry realitythey broadcast and toward, hopefully, gender equality.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- About the Authors
- Introduction: Funhouse Mirrors – Popular Culture’s Distorted View of Girl/Womanhood
- 1 Becoming a Girl: Pop Culture’s First Stage of Gender Training
- 2 Reading Between the Lines: The Lessons Adolescent Girls Learn Through Popular Young Adult Literature
- 3 The Gendered Self-Help Reel: How Romantic Comedies Instruct Women on Dating Dos and Don’ts
- 4 Selling Weddings and Producing Brides: Mediated Portrayals of That ‘Perfect Day’
- 5 Love, American Style: Gendered Representations of Marriage in the Media
- 6 Nine Months of Fear and a Lifetime of Paranoia: The Hidden Effects of Pregnancy Manuals, Child Rearing Products, and More
- 7 Changing the Playing (or Reading) Field: Reconceptualizing Motherhood Through Humorous Parenting Texts
- 8 Pumas, and Cougars, and MILFs, Oh My!: Popular Portrayals of Romance and Sexual Encounters Between ‘The Older Woman’ and Younger Man
- 9 Beyond the Hot Flashes: New Portrayals of Mature Women
- Conclusion: Exiting the Funhouse – Challenging Society’s Lessons One Stage at a Time
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index