Girls' Literature and Culture

Some women will go under the knife just to look be...

2012-02-12T22:11:32.471-08:00

Some women will go under the knife just to look beautiful and I think that there is nothing wrong with that. Thanks.

Thanks for your comments, Adam. It's always a ...

2012-01-14T18:58:52.263-08:00

Thanks for your comments, Adam. It's always a little scary intruding into areas that relate to biology, as I have no background in Science and can only speak from a Gender Studies position.

I hadn't realised that transgenderism in young children was as prevalent either, especially not until I visited the Mermaids page. Perhaps we are experiencing something similar to what happened when homosexuality became more accepted and young people became more able to express that they felt different than their peers. Who know how many kids in the past just had to suppress any feelings that their gender did not match their sex.

I agree that the fact this occurred in twins is very intriguing, not only in genetic terms, but also with regard to their home environment.

That story that you linked-to regarding Wyatt/Nico...

2012-01-14T16:49:18.439-08:00

That story that you linked-to regarding Wyatt/Nicole was fascinating and moving. I had no idea that such extreme cases of 'transgenderism' occurred in children so young. It raises many moral and ethical challenges.

I could imagine that the parents would feel condemned perpetually: Damned if they do help Wyatt become Nicole and damned if they don't.

As a biologist, I am also fascinated that Wyatt was one of two identical twins who should be genetically identical. Understanding the biological mechanism that resulted in one twin identifying as male and the other as female would be fascinating.

Thanks for an interesting post.

Lego has changed dramatically over the years. Very...

2012-01-09T17:25:05.615-08:00

Lego has changed dramatically over the years. Very few kids get given a straight up tub of Lego and are therefore able to use their imagination when building.

Instead it's all about these 'kits' to build a specific item with instructions to follow. This is probably part of the reason why the gender differentiation is flourishing as marketers try to target these kits to what they perceive the market as being.

Modern Lego - for unimaginative gender bound kids (good work modern parents!).

Feminism has long been associated with vanity. Thi...

2011-11-07T17:19:34.811-08:00

Feminism has long been associated with vanity. This gave rise to rouge and contemporary fashion. Today, feminism also deals with cosmetic surgery perth.

It will be intriguing to see what the blend of lit...

2011-10-27T03:06:10.296-07:00

It will be intriguing to see what the blend of literature scholars, cultural historians, art historians, garden variety historians and even anthropologists will produce.

Glamour: Women, History, Feminism by Carol Dyhouse...

2011-09-25T02:39:53.843-07:00

Glamour: Women, History, Feminism by Carol Dyhouse <-- that's what i was looking for
Dissertation Literature Review

I think people get mixed up for some reason - repr...

2011-08-30T21:46:07.400-07:00

I think people get mixed up for some reason - representing a married couple, whether gay or straight, doesn't necessarily involve representing explicit sexual material! Just people building a life together. And that is Bert and Ernie!

nice.....!

2011-07-29T03:11:27.520-07:00

nice.....!

Pity you didn't mention "'Little Miss...

2011-05-20T16:54:01.318-07:00

Pity you didn't mention "'Little Miss Sunshine' in your article. This film takes a very penetrating point of view of girl beauty contests, but it it so laced with humour that my wife and I had a hilarious time.
Get it out of of the video store or somewhere and enjoy it.
It is a simple biological fact that men are stimulated by certain dressing by women and the latter have to keep it to a level to elicit admiration, not raise lust.
Some of the cleavage around in the streets these days is downright embarrassing.

Nice article, thanks for the information.

2011-03-10T20:05:09.679-08:00

Nice article, thanks for the information.

If you look carefully under the inset picture you ...

2011-02-22T02:20:46.270-08:00

If you look carefully under the inset picture you will see the ruffles continue. Further if you draw a line from the top of the bears right eye to the edge of the picture you can see a small 4 pixel wide tringle of white, whos shade is an exact match for the right shoulder ruffle - it is too white for the bears fur. Also if you look to the left of the ruffle under the inset you will see a patch of flat white fabric. Further, the white ruffle is attached to what appears to be 1.5-2cm wide strap that appears to extend down to the ruffles under the inset.

A small bit of extrapulation gives us a second ruffle over the covered shoulder and that the ruffle continues down to loose a waist strap which would be attached to a loose dress - a style of clothing otherwise known as a sun dress.

And as far as the hair - have you seen some of the styles popularised through the 70's to today?!?

While the caption intones an unwanted context there seems to be nothing wrong with the picture. A girl holding a stuffed bear. Delete the caption and inset and brush the hair more backward and you would probably say it was a cute photo. The rest is an overactive imagination.

See Dick Run - I think that is on the approved lis...

2011-02-22T01:24:29.467-08:00

See Dick Run - I think that is on the approved list. Oh wait it's just been taken off....

It's really quite sad to read the obituaries. ...

2011-01-11T15:25:26.862-08:00

It's really quite sad to read the obituaries. I'm not sure of how big the membership of the GFS was at this time, but there are always at least ten deaths each month. Usually almost as many as the marriages.

This madness originated from Mavis's suggestion that I needed to see the ways emigration was framed in Friendly Leaves for my paper on Australian girls. There is definitely much more on Canadian emigration in terms of the regular column advising girls when ships would be leaving, the conditions, skills required etc. and even a few longer articles on life in Canada. There's nothing like this on Australia, unfortunately.

But I think I now have the only copies of Friendly Leaves in Australia as I could only find one year listed when searching all Australian libraries. In any case, I will save them for your eager attention.

So, I'm completely, ridiculously excited to he...

2011-01-11T11:32:44.038-08:00

So, I'm completely, ridiculously excited to hear that my buddy Christabel has edited some of the GFS numbers. Thanks for sharing. And I have to imagine (despite your tedium), that it is actually quite interesting reading. The observation about the obituaries is fascinating since it speaks loudly about the dangers of childbirth even at the end of the century. I somehow thought that was a much earlier phenomenon.

Have fun! What's this for, anyway? Or are you just randomly purchasing girls' periodicals?

You're right about the weird ruffle. Is she we...

2011-01-10T01:16:39.940-08:00

You're right about the weird ruffle. Is she wearing an off-the-shoulder top? Or did they think the ruffle was essential to reassure people that she's not naked? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Very creepy! And enough bare skin to suggest that ...

2011-01-09T13:07:32.074-08:00

Very creepy! And enough bare skin to suggest that she might be naked beneath that soft stuffed animal. (But what is that ruffle on her shoulder?!) And the hair? Looks suitable for a middle-aged woman, not a young girl. Fascinating.

I did learn that you can't go back from Willy ...

2010-12-30T04:44:12.983-08:00

I did learn that you can't go back from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory a few years ago. Nothing looked real any longer. Whaddya mean that's a chocolate river? It's brown water with no viscosity!

That said, I received a Goonies boxset from the US for Christmas and it's doing a pretty good job of it. It comes complete with a new board game that I've yet to play, and a reproduction of a 64-page magazine from 1985 that promoted the movie. Goonies never say die! Or grow up.

Mike and I have recently discovered that YOU CAN&#...

2010-12-15T11:55:41.476-08:00

Mike and I have recently discovered that YOU CAN'T GO BACK. The movies or TV shows you watched as a child are almost always bad - slow pacing, awful effects, poor acting. I do hope your T-Bag experience is better. You'll have to post an update once you've re-watched the series. Have fun!

A belated response, Adelaide. The answer is, I can...

2010-12-14T03:29:52.090-08:00

A belated response, Adelaide. The answer is, I can tell you more in March when I've done all of the research! In a preliminary sense, it's generally understood that this is the period when "childhood" as a distinct category is created. Previously children were sometimes thought of as miniature adults, not necessarily as "innocent". The Romantic idea of childhood as a period of innocence still persists obviously.

I'll post as I discover more.

So what was Regency childhood like? We only get a...

2010-11-17T23:46:09.118-08:00

So what was Regency childhood like?

We only get a few pictures, for example, from Jane Austen.

And I took note of the words "transnational cultures" and "print culture".

Woohoo!!! Most excellent news, isn't it?! I ca...

2010-11-17T10:59:42.802-08:00

Woohoo!!! Most excellent news, isn't it?! I can't wait to see how the project turns out.

Michelle, a very very old film that explored a gir...

2010-11-16T15:33:55.604-08:00

Michelle, a very very old film that explored a girl desiring a man is Daddy Long Legs (1955) starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. Here's a description on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy_Long_Legs_%281955_film%29

It was really interesting to read the Brownie Pack...

2010-10-07T15:41:14.982-07:00

It was really interesting to read the Brownie Pack names interpreted Australian style.

I think the 21st century guides are moving closer to what Baden Powell wanted them to be, as well, there are some interesting divergences.

In 1994, there was an interesting article in the World Book about both the Guide and Scout movements. Written from a Commonwealth point of view and from an expert.

The closest "Faraway Tree" for me was pr...

2010-07-29T19:46:21.806-07:00

The closest "Faraway Tree" for me was probably either a liquid amber tree I had personal acquaintance with, or a peppercorn tree. Just that sense of thickness and possibility.

YES: there is Blyton fanfic. I have known about it since the beginning of this century. And YES it would be a fruitful piece of research.

In 2003 there was a big growth in saffic. And Blytonistas work in groups to write fanfic.