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Thank Heaven for Little Girls: `Girl Heaven' and the Commercial Context of Feminine Childhood
Abstract
this paper is based on a critical analysis of a chain of retail outlets called Girl Heaven, aimed primarily at 3-13-year-old girls, described variously as a piece of retail folklore (Lumsden, 1999) and as Guardian Wimmin Hell (Kettle, 1999). It argues that while on the one hand Girl Heaven appears to provide a celebratory social space in which girls can affirm their femininity, it also seems to epitomize the commercial appropriation of childhood femininity. As a way into exploring these two alternatives, this article is concerned initially with what it means to do feminine childhood against the backdrop of contemporary consumer culture. It then outlines the methodological approach that we take to researching Girl Heaven, and the ways in which we explore young girls' lived experience of consumer culture and gender acquisition. We then consider the commercial context of Girl Heaven in relation to the increasing market recognition of 'tweenies', as well as the significance of pester power and branding in childhood approaches to consumption. We subsequently focus on Girl Heaven as a cultural text, concentrating on its construction of femininity. Our analysis culminates in an attempt to reflect critically on the complex relationship between consumer culture and the process of becoming a woman. We reflect on Girl Heaven - with which, our research suggests, young girls themselves are acutely aware of having a relationship that is far from straightforward - as a notable manifestation of this complexity.
... This thesis has a feminist, social constructionist framework, developed from works such as Renold (2005) and Russell and Tyler (2002), which seeks to acknowledge that identities are something that are constantly done and re-done. Recent childhood sociology, such as Renold (2005), Russell and Tyler (2002), as well as James et al (2005), Pilcher (2009) and Pilcher (2013) amongst others, also recognise the importance of researching with children to consider the ways in which children constitute their own gendered, classed, raced and aged identities. ...
... This thesis has a feminist, social constructionist framework, developed from works such as Renold (2005) and Russell and Tyler (2002), which seeks to acknowledge that identities are something that are constantly done and re-done. Recent childhood sociology, such as Renold (2005), Russell and Tyler (2002), as well as James et al (2005), Pilcher (2009) and Pilcher (2013) amongst others, also recognise the importance of researching with children to consider the ways in which children constitute their own gendered, classed, raced and aged identities. Building on these foundations, the research questions in this study were investigated with a qualitative research design, using focus groups, visual methods and interviews, so as to ask girls to articulate what fashion and dress mean to them. ...
... By considering how girls interact with commercial discourse and with consumer goods, Russell and Tyler ask what it means to do feminine childhood against the backdrop of contemporary consumer culture. Femininity is an aesthetic phenomenon bound up with the commodified world, a world in and through which girls become women (Russell and Tyler 2002). Unlike the 'crisis of childhood' writers, Russell and Tyler (2002) recognise that it is not enough to dismiss girls' consumer culture or to simply propose that girls might stay childlike longer by being prevented from consuming, but that we must acknowledge the importance of consumer culture in girls' lives. ...
This thesis explores the importance of clothing in the lives of pre-teen girls; how do girls of 8 to 9 and 10 to 11-years-old understand both the discourses of fashion, that suggest how girls’ bodies should be dressed, as well as the material garments that they chose to put on their bodies, and make sense of these meanings on and through their bodies? What part does clothing play in their understanding of personhood and in particular the interconnection of gender, age, class, ethnicity and sexuality? What might the study of young girls and fashionable clothes tell us about the creation and negotiation of contemporary young feminine identities?
Much popular discussion in the twenty-first century, including government policy debate, has focused on the sexualisation of young girls, and the wearing of certain fashionable dress is seen as a contributory factor in this sexualizing process. Academics have begun to assess what fashion means to those who consume it, yet this literature usually assumes an adult consumer. Turning to the sociology of childhood and the recognition of childhood agency, this thesis suggests that girls’ own relationship with fashion needs to be investigated in order to consider if, and to what extent, this sexualisation is taking place, to add to our knowledge both in childhood, and fashion, sociology. This thesis examines girls as meaningful consumers of fashion and explores the relationship between clothes and identity for these girls. By carrying out focus groups, asking participants to photograph their clothes and undertaking interviews with those photographs, this research asks girls what fashion means to them. In response to concerns raised in popular debate about the ‘loss of childhood innocence’ through fashion consumption, the girls’ consumption of dress is explored in relation to the following of fashion trends, the emulating of pop stars and parental influence. This thesis refutes any simplistic mapping of these influences onto girls’ ways of dressing, demonstrating the complexities of girls’ interactions with popular ideas about what to wear and how clothes are understood. Rather, I argue that girls’ negotiations of sexuality, subject positions and fashion are complex and nuanced.
This thesis addresses key themes arising from my data that show that girls in my research are alert to social expectations and deem dress to be context-dependent. The sample demonstrated a thoughtful, thorough sense of learned social rules and taste, and individual aesthetics. Moreover, evidence from this study shows that girls are able to create multiple, fluid identities through dress, from the habitual, everyday self to the hetero-sexualised ‘girlie’ girl and back again. Clothes prove useful tools in thinking through what it means to be different types of person, but also enable girls to display kinship and friendship.
Another crucial element of fashion arising from this research is that of materiality and temporality. Dress is inextricably linked to memory and biography, acting as a memento of past events or important relationships but also enabling girls to articulate their own biographical narratives. The materiality of clothes on the body also informed them of the passing of time, acting as transitional objects. An original contribution of this thesis is a demonstration of the ways in which girls positioned themselves in the present, through previous interactions between body and garments, and the increasing tightness of those garments as the girls grew. Yet girls also tried on future identities through experiencing certain clothes on their bodies. The sensuous experience of dress allows girls to feel that they are growing up and therefore to situate themselves temporally on their life course as, this thesis argues, we may all do.
... Fashion is obsessed with gender and clothes play a central part to define and naturalize gender, and to express sexuality (Entwistle 2000;Twigg 2007). Russell and Tyler's (2002) examination of young girls' experiences of consumer culture and gender acquisition shed light on 'feminine childhood.' Young girls in contemporary consumer society can be torn between being a child, being a consumer, and being feminine. ...
... Young girls in contemporary consumer society can be torn between being a child, being a consumer, and being feminine. In order to become effective consumers, they may pursue an ideal femininity (Russell and Tyler 2002). ...
... Marketing and advertising aimed at children often address this desire to appear more grown up (Russell and Tyler 2002). Even back in 1980s, Calvin Klein jeans advertisements with tag lines such as "13 going on 18," showed images of young girls aspiring femininity and sexuality (Cook and Kaiser 2004). ...
... For example, girls tend to negotiate more directly than boys negotiate; girls use more indirect approaches to secure other people's cooperation and responsiveness (Cowan, Drinkard, & MacGavin, 1984). Girls may gather information extensively and may be confident in both their productrelated knowledge and their ability to persuade and gain permission-especially from their mothersto buy products of their choice (Grant & Stephen, 2005;Russell & Tyler, 2002). Conversely, adolescent girls who participated in stereotypical "girlie" activities, such as shopping for tea-party clothes in Girl Heaven stores, may resent conforming to these formulaic expectations (Russell & Tyler, 2002). ...
... Girls may gather information extensively and may be confident in both their productrelated knowledge and their ability to persuade and gain permission-especially from their mothersto buy products of their choice (Grant & Stephen, 2005;Russell & Tyler, 2002). Conversely, adolescent girls who participated in stereotypical "girlie" activities, such as shopping for tea-party clothes in Girl Heaven stores, may resent conforming to these formulaic expectations (Russell & Tyler, 2002). As adults, people who experienced a secure and fulfilling childhood in single-mother families did not associate their parents with common gender stereotypes (Gerson, 2004). ...
Although social scientists have identified diverse behavioral patterns among children from dissimilarly structured families, scholars have progressed little in relating modern family processes to consumption-related decisions. Based on gaps and limitations identified in a review of the existing consumer decision-making literature, this study examines how children influence family consumption decision-making in single-mother families and posits a conceptual framework that integrates normative resource exchange theory with existing consumer decision-making model theory. The implications for a better understanding of processes rather than prevalent outcome-oriented focus for future research purposes are also discussed.
... It follows that household composition as a whole necessary creates boundary conditions for individual choices. (Casey and Martens, 2007; Russell and Tyler, 2002;Lury, 1996). Traditionally, taking care of one's looks has been associated with females (Coulter, 2003;Nixon, 1992). ...
... Traditionally, taking care of one's looks has been associated with females (Coulter, 2003;Nixon, 1992). It has been stated that young girls are socialized at an early stage of their life to construct their femininity through consumption and particularly through spending on beauty care (Russell and Tyler, 2002;Lury, 1996). Because shopping for cosmetics and other appearance-related products has such a strong feminine tag, men do not necessarily buy these products themselves. ...
Face wash can be identified as an essential object in the today's both female and male market segments for the cleansing purpose. Huge number of different varieties has come in to the market and with different features and unique benefits the so called brands have secured their share in the market place. With the huge marketing campaigns comprised with online and offline promotions, the face wash products have replaced the toilet soap as an instant cleansing way of the busy lives of the people. Accordingly, the current study has focused to identify the reasons for the boom in face wash market and to understand what factors have motivate the soap users to switch from soap to face wash in their cleansing purposes. Use of face wash for face cleansing purpose has become the current trend among female segment. But prior to face wash, almost every female used soap for their face cleansing needs. The research problem was based on finding factors which have motivated consumers heavily in switching from soap to face wash.The sample size of the research was 150 female respondents. The data collection for the research was carried out through the questionnaire survey method. The statistical frame work used in analyzing the data were mean, median and mode and the formulated hypotheses for the research was tested using correlation analysis. The data presentation was carried through pie charts and frequency data table. Advertising, Word of Mouth communication, Product related attributes and the Celebrity endorsement have taken as the independent variables of the study and the switching behavior has taken as the dependent variable of the study. Four hypotheses built up for the study and from the study, it has found that, there's a significant impact of Advertising, Word of Mouth communication, and Celebrity endorsement to the switching behavior of the female segment in Kandy. Keywords-Advertising, Word of Mouth communication, Product related attributes and the Celebrity endorsement, switching behaviour
... It is the product of makeup, a component marketed as vital in the beauty regime, which this research is specifically interested in. Undoubtedly there has been an enormous rise in the tween and teen beauty and personal care market (Russell and Tyler, 2002). Vivienne Rudd, the Director of Inside Beauty and Personal Care Mintel stated that the trend is moving towards more [cosmetic] brands coming on board that specifically target the increasing sophistication of the pre-pubescent (Rudd, 2013) and the targeting of these age groups seems to be working. ...
... The tween market has been chosen for this research as not only are they an increasingly targeted market by the beauty industry, but also a common characteristic of the tween is that they are beginning to make some independent purchases as well as influencing and directing their parents' expenditure (Banister and Hogg, 2004). The tween demographic commonly represents consumers in the transition between their childhood and teenage years (Russell and Tyler, 2002). Tweens have been classified as between the age of six and 13 (Downie and Glazebrook, 2007); eight and 12 (Roper and La Niece, 2009); or younger than 14 years (Lindstrom, 2004). ...
Marketing messages socialise individuals into believing that (amongst other practices) consuming cosmetics is the key to beauty and such messages are now being targeted directly to pre-adolescents. Research shows marketing portrayals of beauty ideals are associated with body disillusionment; however, there is a lack of knowledge on how tweens' enculturation of the necessity to consume beauty products influences their personal development and perspectives of others. The present study examines tweens perceptions of girls who own makeup; 111 girls between 6 and 12 years drew and described a child who owned makeup and a child who did not own makeup, resulting in 222 drawings. The drawings and descriptive words were coded inductively using emerging themes and differences between the two drawings were analysed using SPSS and chi square analysis. Findings revealed girls who owned makeup were perceived to be more attractive, happy, and popular than girls who did not wear makeup, however, they were also perceived to be ‘nastier' than girls who did not own makeup. The findings revealed tweens are enculturated into contemporary beauty ideals and hold strong stereotypes regarding owning makeup. Interpreted through the lens of sociocultural theory and the Halo Effect, findings are discussed in terms of how such ideals shape tweens expectations of others and ultimately may shape their own personal behaviour with regards to social interactions, roles and activities engaged in. We argue that the beauty ideal stereotypes associated with tween cosmetic ownership may be in reality, less than ideal. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Our study aimed to explore the working lives of authors as creative practitioners, specifically focusing on authors who write for children. Childhood presented an interesting dimension to the research as it is perceived culturally as a "magical" time, also often seen as "outside" or even counter to the serious, adult world of work (Grey 1998;Kavanagh 2013;Langer 2002;Rehn 2009;Russell and Tyler 2002). Therefore, it presented a context where we expected authors to have strong connections to their work. ...
... Attending to fashion may be a 'skill' that females then acquire, even if later some of them choose not to display it. Retail and online stores such as "Girl Heaven" create a shopping experience for females of a wide age range (Russell & Tyler, 2002), making the focus on fashion as a hobby, if not a lifestyle. Additionally, computer games designed to appeal to girls focus on clothing, makeup, shopping and dress-up (Hughes, 2022). ...
Psychological essentialist beliefs about gender suggest that women outperform men at remembering what other people look like. Much of the research on gender and interpersonal memory supports this view. We explored which aspects of appearance women remember better than men. We hypothesized that women will outperform men only in memory for what other people are wearing. Participants watched a video of either a male or a female in 'workout clothes,' and were later given a memory survey. Results showed that women were no better than men at remembering the physical attributes of another person. Women's memory advantage was limited to what another female was wearing. Self-socialization and appearance rigidity in childhood and their relation to gender essentialism are discussed.
... Similarly, Boydell (2004) highlighted the important role clothing has played in defining feminine and masculine identities. Young girls, from an early age, may pursue an ideal of femininity in order to become effective consumers (Russell and Tyler, 2002). However, this sexuality is not only promoted by consumer culture and marketing institutions. ...
The purpose of this chapter is to bring a more holistic, inclusive, and critical perspective to discussions on the politics of the female body and dress in workplace settings. It aims to explore the struggles and experiences of women in the business environment with regards to ‘looking the part' and the role dress and bodily adornment play in construction and expression of their workplace identities. It will further discuss the role dress might have as signifier of status and power and the ambiguities related to age, body image, sexuality, and identity at work. Furthermore, most of the prior studies on dress acknowledge fashion as a Western phenomenon ignoring the role of dress in non-Western cultures. Therefore, this chapter also aims to discuss how might these conflicts differ in a non-Western context. Finally, considering that during the COVID-19 pandemic image management has shifted to a virtual world, creating further challenges for women, the chapter will conclude by shedding light on these struggles and presenting ideas for the future of work dress code.
... The study has a feminist, social constructionist framework, developed from works such as Renold (2005) and Russell and Tyler (2002), which seeks to acknowledge that identities are something that are constantly done and re-done. The theoretical approach involves taking up the notion that dress is one of the ways in which we can attempt to give material form and a sense of coherence to our self-identity, whilst situating the formation of that subjectivity within a set of gendered, classed and aged expectations (Craik, 1993;Sweetman, 2001;Wilson, 2005). ...
Based on research with eight to eleven-year-old girls from the South of England, I discuss the relationship between their clothes, identity, temporality, life course and the ageing process. Despite media accounts suggesting the passivity of pre-teen girls’ fashionable dress consumption, unknowingly becoming prematurely sexualised through hyper-feminine dress, by using the interlinking of materiality and life course as a lens to explore girls’ understanding of fashion, my research showed that girls engage with popular debates about age-appropriate dress. I demonstrate that the participants were aware of sexual generationing and explored older, hyper-feminine, sexualised identities at specific, socially-approved times. Most significantly, this materiality/life course approach offers new insights into how girls explore the past, present and the future, feeling the passing of time and the ageing process on their bodies, through the materiality of their clothes. It is through dress that girls come to understand age, temporality and where they are on their life course.
... Our focus on girlhood is motivated by girls' high visibility in popular and political culture and its ambivalent relationship to consumerism and femininity. On the one hand, girls are increasingly important in the contemporary economy as consumers and marketeers of commodities due to the rise of social media (Banet-Weiser, 2015;Russell & Tyler, 2002). On the other hand, girls' relationship to consumerism, traditional gender norms, and even global capitalism is far from straightforward, including subversion, revolt, and protest (Currie, Kelly, & Pomerantz, 2009;Harris, 2004). ...
The purpose of this paper is to add to the broader field of feminist organization and entrepreneurship scholarship by introducing and theorizing girlhood as a distinct enterprising femininity. More specifically, we investigate how girlhood, now enjoying a prominent role in commercial culture, impacts the relationship between enterprising self and femininity due to girlhood's many non‐entrepreneurial features. We draw on the scholarship from the field of cultural studies to present the core politico‐aesthetical categories, used to express girlhood as a distinct form of femininity. Empirically, we present and analyze an illustrative case of two large women‐only professional networks that use girlhood and enterprising as their core message to their audiences. Our contributions render visible and provide a theoretical framework for studying girlhood as enterprising femininity, and add to the theorization of gendered and intersectional tensions and struggles between the market pressures to conform to the prevailing ideals of individualized success and the political ambition to challenge the status quo. More so, our theorization of girlhood as enterprising femininity allows us to raise question of what facets of femininity remain excluded – and thus in need of further theorization and critical feminist interventions – within the economic domain.
... For women who are involved in sport as 'hot' committed fans, some complex issues were raised around their gender identities. Russell and Tyler (2002), in their study of identity construction of younger girls (aged 10-11 years), found that 'doing' femininity was a complex process at this age. Girls defined themselves as 'half-girlie' because although they participated in the 'girlie' activity of shopping and were already conscious of their appearance, they also played football. ...
... Feminine beauty is a complex and contested site, molded and iterated through popular culture imagery, implicated in feminist, anti-feminist, and post-feminist debates, and evolving with the ebbs and flows of globalization (Elias et al., 2017). Above all, the changing expressions of beauty in popular culture are socially significant because they inform the gendered experiences of young women (Russell and Tyler, 2002). For instance, children's fairy tales that emphasize women's passivity and beauty have been criticized for operating as cultural scripts that routinize hegemonic masculinity and dominant gender regimes (Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz, 2003). ...
This article aims to understand how young Korean women respond to the changing ideals of K-beauty, a form of gender imagery embodied by Korean pop celebrities, when such ideals become exported as global cultural products. The findings reveal that K-beauty is characterized by three paradoxical themes: manufactured naturalness, hyper-sexualized cuteness, and the ‘harmonious kaleidoscope’. When we unravel these paradoxes further, we observe that they provoke unsettlement and ambivalence among young Korean women, who shed light on the acculturative labors of concealment, selective resistance, and compliance that permeate the field of K-beauty. We argue that through these new layers of women’s work, the paradoxes in beauty are re-domesticated, the globalizing Western dictates are brought into alignment with neo-Confucian cultural ideology, and a new hybridized hegemonic regime of feminine beauty becomes established.
... In order to illustrate the strategies of these two groups, I will examine in more detail two contrasting cases: Hanna and Axel. The narratives of Hanna and Axel exemplify some of the typical links between experienced pressure and NMPCE in the groups they represent (Bryman, 2012, p. 70, see also Renold & Allan, 2006Russel & Tyler, 2002). The narratives are paradigmatic (Bryman, 2012;Flyvebjerg, 2010), in the sense that they represent and illustrate a collection of individual cases (Hagan, 2006), that share common characteristics (Stake, 2006). ...
Research has shown an increase in the experience of educational pressure among students in contemporary Western societies and also, in their use of pharmaceuticals, for enhancement purposes. Based on qualitative interviews with 60 Danish students conducted in 2016, this article analyses student narratives about their use of pharmaceuticals to meet the expectations they experience in the educational settings. Though many students find pharmaceuticals useful, interesting gender differences exist regarding their motives and legitimations of use, and regarding pharmaceuticals of choice. By using two paradigmatic, narrative cases the article suggests that a ‘male strategy’ of augmentation is more in accordance with the overall requirement to perform and succeed in the ‘performance society’ than a ‘female strategy’ of normalisation. The article argues that there may be a parallel between the increasing numbers of women in Danish society diagnosed with stress and anxiety, the media representations of achieving women being more vulnerable than men, and the gender differences in pharmaceutical use. The paper aims to contribute to a nuanced discussion of the relations between educational pressure, gender and use of pharmaceuticals for enhancement purposes in contemporary Western societies.
... For women who are involved in sport as 'hot' committed fans, some complex issues were raised around their gender identities. Russell and Tyler (2002), in their study of identity construction of younger girls (aged 10-11 years), found that 'doing' femininity was a complex process at this age. Girls defined themselves as 'halfgirlie' because although they participated in the 'girlie' activity of shopping and were already conscious of their appearance, they also played football. ...
Women fans have entered the traditionally male domain of the sports stadium in growing numbers in recent years. Watching professional sport is important for women for so many reasons, but their expectations and experiences have been largely ignored by academics. This book tackles these shortcomings in the literature and sheds new light on the many ways in which women become sports fans. This groundbreaking study is the first to focus on the phenomenon of the feminization of sports fandom. Including original research on football and rugby union in the UK, it looks at the increasing opportunities for women to become sports fans in contemporary society and critically examines the way this form of leisure is valued by women. Drawing upon feminist thinking and intersectionality, it shows how women from different social classes and age groups consume the spectacle of sport. This book is fascinating reading for any student or scholar interested in sport and leisure studies, sociology and gender or women's studies.
... Primary agents include the influence of family (and social class) and school (De Singly, 1993;Duhaime, 2003;Harris, 1999;Rawlins, 2006) and secondary agents include peers (Bearden & Randall, 1990;Shim & Koh, 1997), media (Morgan, 1982;Neyrand & Guillot, 1989), and celebrities (Bush, Martin, & Bush, 2004;Jamison, 2006;McCracken, 1989). Shifts in the media world (Bennett, Sagas, & Dees, 2006;Russell & Tyler, 2002;Shearer, 2002) and especially in technology in terms of cell phones and the Internet (Metton, 2006;Noble et al., 2009) have contributed to the expansion of peer groups and social networks, each with its own culture and consumer behaviour. These factors affect the choice of symbolic products and brands (Belk, Bahn, & Mayer, 1982;Derbaix & Leheut, 2008;Desjeux, 2006) that create, develop, and reflect identity (Belk, 1988;Elliott & Wattanasuwan, 1998;McCracken, 1986;Sirgy, 1982;Solomon, 1983) as they relate to clothing, music, sports, and other preferences. ...
We consider the influence of personal and social identity among adolescents on the importance they attach to clothing products and brands. The conceptual framework includes more conventional variables such as socialization (family, peers, media, and celebrities) and individual characteristics (gender and grade level). Based on a sample of 1,596 French high school adolescents, our results highlight: (i) the influence of identity on the importance attached to product and brand; (ii) the mediating effects of personal and social identities; and (iii) the moderating effects of gender and grade level. We conclude with an analysis of theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research directions. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Dans cet article, nous examinons l'influence de l'identité personnelle et sociale sur l'importance que les adolescents accordent aux produits et marques vestimentaires. Le cadre conceptuel comprend, entre autres, des variables plutôt conventionnelles telles que la socialisation (la famille, les pairs, les médias et les célébrités) et les caractéristiques individuelles (sexe et niveau scolaire). Nos résultats qui sont basés sur un échantillon de 1 596 adolescents français inscrits dans des lycées mettent en évidence: (i) l'influence de l'identité sur l'importance que les adolescents accordent aux produits et aux marques ; (ii) les effets médiateurs des identités personnelles et sociales; et (iii) les effets modérateurs du sexe et du niveau scolaire. Nous concluons par une présentation des contributions théoriques et des implications pratiques de notre étude et par quelques propositions de pistes pour des recherches futures.
... (Halberstam 1998 : 6) In noting the heterogeneity of the term tomboy, there is also a need to acknowledge the socio-historical development of the concept. For a younger generation, understanding being a tomboy needs to be addressed within the context of a re-signifying of the concepts girl, girl culture and feminine childhood through consumerism (Russell and Tyler 2002 ). The signifi cance of tomboyism is illustrated in a range of educational qualitative studies over the last decade, three of which we examine here, that enable us to explore the complex meaning systems established within children's social systems. ...
... More recent studies highlight the strong bond between mother and daughter in pre-adolescence [5][6][7][8]. The very construction of gender identity is related to the set of social experiences and expectations of the tween girl which is primarily contributed to the domestic sphere, given that the relationship between the tween and her mother is strong as indicated by contemporary studies, but also in the public sphere as well [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. ...
In the context of the post-modern theory of gender this study investigates how the gender identity of preadolescent girls is constructed through the components of ethno-cultural origin and socio-economic status with respect to the experiences of 15 tweens girls and their mothers in Thessaloniki. The research was qualitative. The focus groups, the phenomenological method of Betensky and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection while the thematic method was used for the analysis. The results indicate that, through the experience of tweens girls and their mothers, gender identity in pre-adolescence is influenced from popular culture and the relationship between mother and daughter as well as ethno-cultural background and socioeconomic status which constitute as optical components in the construction of the female identity. This article concentrates on the second objective of the research which is the relationship between mother and daughter in the pre-adolescent period.
... (Halberstam 1998 : 6) In noting the heterogeneity of the term tomboy, there is also a need to acknowledge the socio-historical development of the concept. For a younger generation, understanding being a tomboy needs to be addressed within the context of a re-signifying of the concepts girl, girl culture and feminine childhood through consumerism (Russell and Tyler 2002 ). The signifi cance of tomboyism is illustrated in a range of educational qualitative studies over the last decade, three of which we examine here, that enable us to explore the complex meaning systems established within children's social systems. ...
Across media, academy and popular culture in western societies there is much talk of an implosion of the modern gender order. Education is often presented as a key site in which a crisis of masculinity is played out, and schools have become a focus for practical attempts to reconcile social and cultural transformations through the recalibration of teaching and learning, increasing male teachers and masculinising the content of subjects.
... The consumption patterns of girls that concentrate on their appearances are sometimes regarded as worrying, such as spending on too 'adultlike' clothing and make-up, thus allowing the girls to become sexual objects prematurely. Therefore, girls are often seen as being in special need of protection and restriction (Cook and Kaiser 2004;Quart 2002;Ruspini 2012;Russell and Tyler 2002;Schor 2004). ...
In this article, we examine the gender differences in disposable incomes of teenagers during a 30-year period 1983-2013, using large nationally representative survey data. Since the gender pay gap in working life has been rather persistent in Finland and the EU, it was necessary to see whether the gap persists in teenagers’ incomes as well. Although teenagers do not receive much income from work, they adapt to the structures of society during their teenage years and learn gender roles in consumption, education and working life. Our results reveal that the gender pay gap has been rather persistent in Finland, particularly among 14- and 16-year-old teenagers. It is only among 18-year-olds that the gender difference in income has narrowed. There were interactions between gender and socio-economic indicators, such as the father’s education and family’s place of residence. The persistent gender pay gap cannot be explained solely by wage differences in any age group, because full-time work of teenagers is nowadays very rare, and in Finland they do not work very much even part-time. Although it is rather obvious that boys get higher incomes than girls from external work, the allocation of money by parents seems to be unequal, too.
... I enjoyed creating avatars that looked like celebrities. Or I created an avatar, gave her a name, and the name was associated to her personality, I enjoyed reconstructing the story of her life me (Cecilia, 13 years old) when I find another doll or a celebrity I like I try to look like her in everything (Eleonora, 11 years old) However, with respect to the commodification of celebrity culture, preteens invest in cultural icons such as pop stars and sports stars, but engage knowingly in the lifestyle proposed in order to find their own style (Boden, 2006), and girls are especially aware that femininity can be "excessive" and needs to be regulated (Russell and Tyler, 2002): ...
In order to investigate how online activities and digital cultures mediate children's socialisation to consumer culture, this paper discusses the findings of a research project on online games for tweens which focus on fashion. Popular websites for girls include a variety of games centred on fashion; these are mainly paper dolls sites, which engage girls in a drag and drop activity of clothes and fashion items on sexualised bodies, at times of celebrities. Some reproduce fashion and beauty ideals in settings such as cat-walks, hairstyle and beauty saloons, etc. Others, such as Stardoll.com, offer more complex environments, integrating dressing up activities with the creation of an online persona, combined with social networking. Drawing on analysis of online dress up games and websites, and a set of group interviews with young girls aged 9-13, the paper explores how tweens engage with these games and, more generally, how they appropriate, negotiate and resist consumer culture through the practice of dressing up themselves and their online personas. The aim of the paper is therefore threefold: 1) reconstruct the meanings and uses of online paper dolls websites, and their symbolic value in everyday interactions; 2) investigate how these games contribute to shape young girls' engagement with digital cultures, consumer and celebrity culture; and 3) understand how stereotyped representations of young girls as consumers circulated in media, consumer and celebrity culture are socially made sense of by tweens in their peer cultures.
... In sociology, it has been stated that young girls are socialised at an early stage of their life to construct their identity through consumption and particularly through spending on their physical appearance (Russell and Tyler 2002;Cook and Kaiser 2004;Lury 2011). Several studies have shown that there are clear gender differences in appearance-related attitudes. ...
The purpose of this study is to analyse consumers whose identity is not based on
appearance-related consumption, but who want distance themselves from consumers willing
to spend on physical appearance. The article examines importance of gender, age and place
of residence in explaining self-evaluated low-level consumption of beauty care and clothing,
and how the proportions of these consumers have changed between socio-demographic
groups. The data consists of three cross-sectional consumption and lifestyle surveys collected
in 1999 (N = 2 417), 2004 (N = 3 574) and 2009 (N = 1 202). The results suggest that a
significant part of Finnish consumers do not consider beauty care or clothing consumption to
be a part of their identity. The results indicate some temporal changes in Finnish consumers’
beauty care consumption evaluations. It seems that gender differences have been relatively
stable, whereas disparities between consumers of different ages as well as urban and rural
consumers have diminished.
We invite you to explore with us the enchanting affects that move us, through ordinary moments in writing for children. Enchantment shows how we are entangled with the world, that which surprises us and builds a sense of wonder. A wind in the trees, a gentle smile, a look of horror. The smell of fresh coffee and the final words of a manuscript. We explore enchantment as mundane but gendered experiences which entail a promise and a potentiality, one that is part of power relations, and where an ethical possibility to engage in the world differently emerges. This paper shows how enchantment is not a detachment from, but a connection to the world. Through interviews with children's writers, we ask how enchanting affect can help us to see work through a different ethical lens.
Worries about the marketing of fashion to pre-teen girls and the power of fashionable clothes to sexualize these girls, have been on-going for some time. However, there is little research with this age group of girls that explicitly explores the ways in which fashionable clothes are understood and worn by the girls themselves and the impact on their sense of identity. Yet girls are increasingly considered in childhood sociology to be competent social actors able to articulate something of their own interactions and understanding of their social worlds. This study uses focus groups, participant photography and interviews with 32 predominately white, middle-class girls from the South of England, to examine pre-teen girls’ fashion practices to address this gap in knowledge. This article argues that young girls are active and thoughtful in their consumption of dress, aware of the construction of gender norms in responding to aged sexual expectations as they decide what to wear. In considering the context of their constructions of aged, gendered and (a)sexualized identity, girls code-switched between identity forms, actively constituting their subjectivity through clothing.
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RBJHQX8R7XDP7Y9NWF38/full?target=10.1080/17569370.2022.2118974
‘My God I’m wearing Tesco!’, exclaims 10-year-old Georgia, in exaggerated horror, as she realises that she has admitted to wearing a piece of clothing from a supermarket chain, in a focus group with friends. Her comments imply young girls’ awareness of the branding of fashion and its commercial source. Edwards (Living dolls? The role of clothing and fashion in ‘sexualisation’. Sexualities, Vol. 23 (5–6), 702–716, 2020), examining children’s clothing, addresses continuing popular concern in the UK about fashion being part of both the sexualising and commercialising of childhood, suggesting that there is little research about children’s relationship with dress. This chapter focusses on what commercialisation might involve and what part it may play in girls’ understanding of fashion, particularly examining notions of consumerism and economic activity in relation to how girls talk about their consumption of clothing.
Cambridge Core - Organisation Studies - Soho at Work - by Melissa Tyler
Recent work has highlighted how brands play an important role within organisational practice, for example, they can act as tools of normative control on employees (Cushen, 2009, Russell, 2011). To extend this discussion, we ask: How do gendered media brands come into being in an organisation by connecting ideas, objects and people? This paper challenges the assumption that brands simply reflect management norms by positioning the brand as an ‘assemblage’ (Lury, 2009) of multiple connections and linkages, simultaneously shaping and being shaped by those that partake in its production. Employees engage in ‘brand work’, i.e., the negotiation of the assemblages of the brand in situated and gendered practices. Brand work is explored here in the gendered creative labour of producing girls’ magazines. Two studies of pre-teen and teenage girls’ magazines in the UK and a Nordic country were analysed in relation to how multiple brand fragments were situated in gendered practices and power relations. Brand work offers an alternative, fragmented perspective to normative forms of control, introducing a simultaneous territorialisation and deterritorialisation process of stabilisation and contestation of the assemblage.
For more than a decade, girl power has been a cultural barometer, reflecting girlhood’s ever-changing meanings. How did girl power evolve from a subcultural rallying cry to a mainstream catchphrase, and what meaning did young girls find in its pop culture forms? From the riot grrrls to the Spice Girls to The Powerpuff Girls, and influenced by books like Reviving Ophelia and movements like Take Our Daughters to Work Day, Growing Up With Girl Power charts this history. It considers how real girls who grew up with girl power interpreted its messages about empowerment, girlhood, strength, femininity, race, and more, and suggests that for young girls, commercialized girl power had real strengths and limitations – sometimes in fascinating, unexpected ways. Encompassing issues of pre-adolescent body image, gender identity, sexism, and racism, Growing Up With Girl Power underscores the importance of talking with young girls, and is a compelling addition to the literature on girls, media, and culture. Supplemental resources are available online at GrowingUpWithGirlPower.com.
Queering Femininity focuses on femininity as a style of gender presentation and asks how (and whether) it can be refigured as a creative and queer style of the body. Drawing on a range of feminist texts and interviews with self-identifying queer femmes from the LGBTQ community, Hannah McCann argues that the tendency to evaluate femininity as only either oppressive or empowering limits our understanding of its possibilities. She considers the dynamic aspects of feminine embodiment that cannot simply be understood in terms of gender normativity and negotiates a path between understanding both the attachments people hold to particular gender identities and styles, and recognising the punitive realities of dominant gender norms and expectations. Topics covered range from second wave feminist critiques of beauty culture, to the importance of hair in queer femme presentation.
Les élections pour couronner des femmes symbolisant leur groupe social existent depuis les années 60 chez les peuples amérindiens du Québec. De nos jours, deux sortes de concours existent : ceux de miss et ceux de reines de carnaval, chacun valorisant différents types d’idéaux féminins. Les auteures émettent l’hypothèse que ces spectacles sociaux véhiculent des modèles complémentaires ou contradictoires qui montrent combien être une Amérindienne peut se révéler complexe. Entre la défense du territoire et la trousse à maquillage, les concours mettent en jeu des codes et des normes qui s’entrechoquent et théâtralisent d’apparentes antinomies.
This article discusses the changing nature of girlhood over the last century as it is through an empirical study of all editions of Girl Guide handbooks since 1910. The describes five strands of change, which the authors describe as ‘stringy’, insofar as together and are difficult to untangle from one another; yet they are also stories of that are nevertheless visible as strands in and of themselves through the empirical authors illustrate the importance of incorporating children and childhood into more theories of social change, in order to better understand how they are intrinsic to the of intergenerational change.
Pre-teen girls have been socialised in the art of consumption since birth, regularly shopping with family. While the tween phenomenon has focused our understandings of pre-teens on the girls’ consumption activities their shopping activities cannot simply be explained by a desire to consume. In this chapter I introduce the significance of shopping centres as places of social interaction and entertainment, ‘theatres oftheir day’ (Miles 2010), for pre-teens who are turning to familiar local spaces as they pursue their increasing desire for acceptance and belonging amongst their friends. The girls recognise the social links between consumer goods and identity and understand that appearance plays a vital role in acceptance by her peers. A compulsory school uniform complicates the girls’ ability to fashion a unique appearance in a school environment but these creative pre-teens find ways to negotiate and delineate their friendship groups in this space.
In marketing circles the label ‘tween’ speak volumes. Not surprisingly though as the 9–14-year-old girls targeted by this consumer-media market are responsible for $ billions in global sales. This gendered phenomenon has created a fantasy world where ‘girlness’ is inherently entwined with consumption ,and the prodigious nature of tween girl culture has created the perception that the marketing persona of tween exists beyond its commercial entity. In this chapter I introduce 13 pre-teen girls as I explore the emergence of tween girl culture and consider how the consumer-media targets the desires of pre-teen girls. I consider the ambiguous place of in-betweenness the girls inhabit, no longer identifying themselves as children but not yet teenagers. The significance of belonging for these girls is introduced as I consider the social meaning behind the girls’ consumption activities. Pugh’s (2009) concept, the ‘economy of dignity’ enables me to consider how pre-teen girls’ meaning making is considered and negotiated in their own local, social worlds.
Pre-teen girls desire to shop is central to the success of the consumer-media tween culture but the products and messages of tween have been the subject of widespread debate and inquiries. Inappropriate clothing and accessories have driven much of the debate around the pernicious nature of tween culture. Yet the girls’ consumption desires extend beyond clothing and accessories. The greatest desire for these pre-teens was technology, and lots of it. While much has been written about the negative effects of technology use for children these pre-teens’ share stories of technology driven family leisure activities. The girls’ stories reveal valuable insights into the role technology can play in creating new family leisure activities. While the girls embraced all technology their greatest desire was to own a mobile phone. Yet many of the girls’ parents were reluctant to purchase this expensive item while they were still in primary school. In this chapter I consider how emerging cultural norms around mobile phone ownership created tension between the girls’ desire to use this technology to explore freedom and independence outside their familial relationships and their parents’ response of ‘not yet’ or ‘next year’.
The globalised nature of the consumer-media tween culture implies that tween-aged girls are growing up in placeless environments around the world. Yet it has been argued that place and geography matters more than ever in contemporary society Products designed and promoted by the global tween market are ultimately acquired and assigned meaning by the girls in their own social worlds. In this chapter the significance of family is evident as I consider how inherently entwined the girls’ negotiations of belonging are with their local, social worlds. I consider the important role school plays in the girls’ everyday lives as I explore their negotiations of belonging in the formal and informal spaces of school. The girls transition from an all-girls Year 5 class to 6C is discussed and the girls share valuable understandings of their experience of single-gendered and co-educational classes. The gendered nature of their school yard negotiations reveal important insights into different understandings of the alleged misuse by the girls of ‘boy play spaces’.The girls’ insights also reveal anxieties and playground conversations of ‘good schools/bad schools’ as the girls reveal their negotiations of the increasing ‘consumer choice’ of government secondary schools in Victoria.
Tsaliki draws from a series of interviews conducted with tween girls from different class backgrounds in Greece as case studies for the debate on the sexualization of young children. Premised upon the view that we cannot make sense of the ‘tween’ unless we take into account its articulation with the market exigencies of childhood, and girlhood in particular, Tsaliki wishes to challenge the prevailing views and assumptions about the incendiary effects of sexualized and commercialized culture on young pre-teen girls. She argues that young girls’ consumption of popular culture (in the form of stardom and celebrity culture) illustrates how the entertainment media, rather than being construed as risk-laden, can be used towards the management of an ethical self, and as part of a broader identity work where issues of self-governance, appropriateness, taste and aesthetics are carefully raised.
Girls' magazines act as important texts through which meanings of childhood, girlhood and womanhood are mediated and constructed. However, previous research has focused on either the conditions of work practices or cultural production of the magazine as a product. Separately in each context women or girls have been described as abject. The paper will argue that employees working on girls' magazines experienced a simultaneous double abjection: in the gendered working practices and as an outcome of the construction of girlhood they produced. Two studies of all female teams producing teenage and pre-teen magazines were used, including interviews and observations. Our approach engaged with the difficulty of examining abjectivity in working practices, as present but marginalized, silenced and othered. As a result of scrutinizing the gendered embodiment in these studies, the findings suggest there is a relation between the working practices and gendered cultural production, forming a process of abjection. This process was threefold: a marginalization of a particular gendered embodiment, the cracks or leaks where abjectivity became apparent and the silencing of those leaks. This study will be of value to scholars interested in gendered embodiment in workplaces, abjectivity and cultural production, noting the interrelation between these areas.
Age-related altercations about clothing are a longstanding phenomenon; the fashion choices of ‘the young’ have not always been to the taste or enjoyed the wholehearted approval of the ‘not young’. Commonly recognisable flash points between young people and their parents, teachers or employers include the shape of shoes, the knot of a tie, the length of a hem, the cut of trousers or the depth of a neck line. Disagreements about clothes — and where, when and how they are worn, and by whom — can be understood as an expression of differences in values, identities and interests between younger and older age groups. Typically, age-related conflicts over clothing fashions have tended to be between teenagers and adults, and worked out in the context of familial rules, or the localised uniform policies or ‘dress codes’ of schools and workplaces. Public and media interest in the issue has been only sporadic, arising especially in relation to the more ‘spectacular’ fashions of youth cultures like Mods, Rockers or Punks (Hebdige 1979; Bennett 2001; Hall and Jefferson 2005; Cohen 2011).
Tο βιβλίο αυτό παρουσιάζει τη σύγχρονη επιστημονική συζήτηση και βιβλιογραφία γύρω από την παιδική ηλικία και τα παιδιά στο πεδίο της κοινωνιολογίας και γενικότερα των κοινωνικών σπουδών. Συγκεκριμένα, με σημείο αναφοράς τις συνθήκες ζωής των παιδιών σε διαφορετικά μέρη του πλανήτη και σε διαφορετικές εποχές, καθώς και τις ποικίλες ιδέες που επικρατούν και υποβαστάζουν το στάτους της παιδικής ηλικίας στις σημερινές κοινωνίες επιχειρείται η προσέγγιση της παιδικής ηλικίας ως κοινωνικής κατασκευής. Στόχος είναι η κατανόηση της παιδικής ηλικίας ως αναπόσπαστο μέρος της δομής των κοινωνιών, αλλά και της ανάδειξης των ποικίλων τρόπων συμμετοχής των παιδιών στη διατήρηση και εξέλιξη των κοινωνιών μέσω της κοινωνικής τους δραστηριότητας. Η κοινωνιολογική αυτή εργασία πάνω στην παιδική ηλικία και στα παιδιά μας βοηθάει να κατανοήσουμε με μεγαλύτερη επάρκεια την παιδική ηλικία και να ενισχύσουμε τη θέση των παιδιών στην κοινωνία.
In this paper, I talk about young teenage girls' hanging out at the shopping mall. I approach hanging out as ‘dwelling with’ commercial spaces by thinking of it as 1) a meaningful practical engagement, and as 2) marking and claiming spaces as one's own. Hanging out with friends often goes on without much reflection, but it is deeply affectual. Because hanging out is wonderfully purposeless, space is cleared for the inspiring mood of enchantment. This receptivity can make ‘dwelling with’ possible. Hanging out can be conceptualized as playful being-in-the-world that allows for improvisations with one's surroundings in movement: an event of different rhythm, openness and experiment. By drifting at the mall, ‘actively doing nothing’, girls are open to the new and surprising. Therefore, hanging out can provide a momentary way out from the seriousness of adult life and make space for enchantment. A micro-atmosphere of play is produced when girls engage with the commercial space and artifacts. A kind of counter-politics of affect actuates from the intra-active play between girls and the things that matter to them. While hanging out, girls make temporary ‘hangout homes’ for themselves, and acquire situated rights to spaces by dwelling with them.
This book provides an ethnographic contribution to research on children’s consumption, family life and happiness. Various and shifting notions of happiness are explored, as well as conditions for and challenges to happiness, through an analysis of video-recorded interviews and mobile ethnography conducted in two of the most popular theme parks in Sweden. Initially, the study outlines how previous research has conceptualized happiness in association with time and place in a rather static way. Based on a treatise of notions of happiness in philosophy and the social sciences, there is a turn in this thesis towards practice. It generates fundamental knowledge about the complexity of happiness. By employing this approach, it is possible to highlight how happiness is enacted as part of and in relation to ideals of family life, time, childhood, money, consumption, experiences and material things. As we explore the practices of children and their families, we discover that shifting meanings of happiness are located in contemporary culture, where emotions and consumption are of central importance.
The approach is interdisciplinary, and draws on theoretical and methodological contributions in sociology, anthropology and Science and Technology Studies (STS). Notions of meshwork and enactment become important for the exploration of happiness as a complex and changing matter, which productively involves social relations and material things. Throughout the thesis there is a dialogue with previous research on happiness, consumption and childhood which highlights the importance of exploring messy practices, in movement. It is argued that explorations of practice contribute to a critical understanding of how happiness and contemporary ideals of childhood can be approached – through consumption and as part of citizenship in a consumer society where happiness is of central importance.
[download: http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A856417&dswid=-5925]
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical background of the involvement and the entertainment of children of four to seven years of age in the purchase process at Hungarian retail stores. It also examines the practice of local and foreign retailers in Hungary.
Design/methodology/approach
– A review of literature is followed by the description of an exploratory study as well as its findings. The study contained two distinct phases: first 160 retail stores which were selling goods to children (exclusively or together with products for adults) were randomly selected and observed, and then 120 face-to-face or mini group interviews were made with Hungarian children.
Findings
– At the moment retail store managers in Hungary do not recognise that children can, and often do affect the length of time their parents spend in retail stores and that children also exert influence on their parents’ purchase decisions and behaviour. Retail store managers rarely provide any entertainment for children and involve them in the shopping experience and even when they do, they fail to do it in the right way. Also, store personnel do not have the right mentality towards children. The study also reveals that children do not wish to have sophisticated or expensive games during the purchase process, but instead would like to be actively involved in the shopping experience by completing little “missions” or “challenges”.
Research limitations/implications
– On the basis of the research results it becomes clear that creatively designed involvement and entertainment of children in retail stores would encourage families to spend more time spent in retail stores and may serve to increased sales. It would however presume collaboration between retail stores and the producers of toys and creative accessories.
Originality/value
– The paper aims to address the rarely and sporadically analysed question of how retail managers should entertain and involve young children in the process of shopping. The exploratory study sheds light on the big gap between what is offered by the retail management and what is expected by the young children during shopping in Hungary. It also points to the apparent lack of attention and awareness amongst retailers concerning the influence that children have on parents during the shopping process.
Résumé
Cet article présente une synthèse de l’analyse de contenu sociologique quantitative (thématique) et qualitative (textuelle) de la presse québécoise pour adolescentes publiée au cours de l’année scolaire 2005-2006. L’objectif était de mettre en évidence les modèles proposés dans cette presse et liés aux représentations sociales de la féminité, de la masculinité et des rapports entre les sexes dans le contexte de l’hypersexualisation et de la sexualisation précoce des filles. L’orientation théorique articule l’approche de la socialisation différentielle des sexes avec la thèse de l’assignation des femmes à la sexualité dans le système hétéropatriarcal.
Les principaux résultats de l’analyse indiquent que les revues valorisent principalement le modèle du girl power à travers la culture du rêve. Parallèlement, le contenu relié à des problématiques majeures pour l’atteinte des objectifs d’égalité entre femmes et hommes est marginalisé. Plus fondamentalement, cette presse dépolitise des enjeux cruciaux pour les femmes et les filles, enjeux liés pour la plupart au contrôle du corps, en particulier la violence masculine.
Female sports fans have been largely marginalized in academic research, but this article makes one contribution towards changing this relative invisibility. Drawing on a ‘grounded theory’ approach, 85 semi-structured interviews were conducted with female football (soccer) and rugby union fans in the English city of Leicester. This article explores how these women position themselves in relation to stereotypes about female media/soap opera fans. Whilst some sports fans were keen to reaffirm hierarchies between sports and media fandoms, others emphasized the extant similarities between these different types of fandom, illustrating the heterogeneity of women's sporting experiences and the range of their interpretations of fandom. My findings concur with Schimmel et al.'s assertion (Schimmel et al. ‘Keep Your Fans to Yourself’, 593) that there is a need for greater ‘cross-fertilization’ between sports and media fandoms. This could help to prompt a move away from gendered hierarchies in research and move towards putting women's experiences as sports fans on the research agenda.
This paper calls for more direct, careful, sustained research on geographies of children, young people and popular culture. I present three sets of empirical and conceptual resources for researchers developing work in this area. Part 1 signposts classic work from cultural/media studies, marketing and sociology, which has been centrally concerned with meanings of popular culture designed for children and young people (e.g. via critiques of the gendered content of iconic popular cultural phenomena). Part 2 foregrounds nascent conceptualisations of social-material geographies of childhood and youth. I argue that these conceptualisations can extend and unsettle classic work on popular culture, by questioning how popular cultural texts, objects and phenomena matter. Halfway through the paper is a ‘commercial break’. Here, I present some personal reflections on working at the intersection between the ideas discussed in Parts 1 and 2. With reference to a specific popular cultural artefact (the Toys ‘Я’ Us Christmas toy catalogue), I argue that both meanings and matterings are crucial for geographers engaging with children and young people's popular cultures. In conclusion, I argue that more geographers should engage with the literature and issues outlined in Part 1, but also that the geographical concepts discussed in Part 2 demand new modes of research, thinking and writing in relation to popular cultural texts, objects and phenomena.
This article aims to investigate to what extent dating/cohabiting/married men and women buy their partner different kinds of products and services related to appearance (clothing, footwear, jewellery/watches, make-up, skin care products, hair care products, perfumes/fragrances, hairdresser services and cosmetician services). A total of 685 Finns (344 men and 341 women) aged 15–64 years with a spouse or dating partner completed a nationally representative mail survey. The findings indicate that the proportion of women who buy their spouse/dating partner clothing, skin or hair care products on a regular basis is considerable. Men who had purchased their spouse/dating partner some of the surveyed products or services did so once or twice a year. Age, type of relationship, income and respondent's personal buying frequency were associated with the likelihood of buying spouse/dating partner different products related to appearance. This trend was particularly prevalent among women. The findings suggest that marketers and retailers of appearance-related products should pay more attention to the role of women as purchasers of their husband's/partner's clothing and grooming products, and the importance of age, type of relationship, income and respondent's personal buying frequency in explaining this type of consumption.
This paper draws on empirical research into the recruitment, training, and management of female flight attendants, working primarily in the transatlantic business travel sector of the contemporary airline industry. We argue that whilst the `skills' which flight attendants are required to deploy are denied, being treated as somehow inherent abilities and thus neither trained nor remunerated, they are nevertheless managed in a directive way. This management involves, in particular, a focus on a flight attendant's figure, and `dieting' - what Naomi Wolf has referred to as `the essence of contemporary femininity' (Wolf 1990:200) - as a recruitment, training and managerial strategy. The work of a female flight attendant involves adhering to culturally prescribed norms on femininity as well as organisational regulations governing her figure - its presentation and performance - whilst undertaking work which involves, at least in part, serving food to others. We conclude that this aspect of the work of flight attendants is thus `a symbolic representation of the subordination of women... a concrete expression of their position as servers and carers of men' (Charles and Kerr 1988:84).
This article reviews the question of childhood in the context of conflicting social trends, namely the simultaneous globalisation and atomisation of social life. The experience of childhood is discussed in relation to three distinct ‘levels’; children as consumers, children as interpreters, and children as actors. It is suggested that understanding the changing social context in relation to each of these levels helps to explain some of the tensions and disruptions that characterise the lives of some children, especially those at the margins. In conclusion, it is argued that this analysis is not only of theoretical interest, but indicates specific requirements for the formulation of coherent social policies to meet the needs of all children. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Twenty-five years of consumer socialization research have yielded an impressive set of findings. The purpose of our article is to review these findings and assess what we know about children's development as consumers. Our focus is on the developmental sequence characterizing the growth of consumer knowledge, skills, and values as children mature throughout childhood and adolescence. In doing so, we present a conceptual framework for understanding consumer socialization as a series of stages, with transitions between stages occurring as children grow older and mature in cognitive and social terms. We then review empirical findings illustrating these stages, including children's knowledge of products, brands, advertising, shopping, pricing, decision-making strategies, parental influence strategies, and consumption motives and values. Based on the evidence reviewed, implications are drawn for future theoretical and empirical development in the field of consumer socialization. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.
Early adolescent girls' interaction with textual images of femininity were assessed through in-depth interviews with ten participants, ages twelve and thirteen, who are regular readers of Teen, Seventeen, Sassy, and YM magazines. The two primary findings represent different dimensions of the same phenomenon: girls' use of outside authorities in formulating personal standards - in this case, standards of behavior and appearance. In particular, girls relied heavily on the reports of boys' voices regularly featured in the magazines for counsel on how to attain male approval and negotiate romantic relationship. Also, girls' readings centered on images of beauty; specifically the "ideal" feminine body. Participants routinely ignored or rejected the magazines' fashion formulations and advice on hair and makeup. However, girls seemed ill equipped to critically analyze magazines' images of the feminine physique, even when they recognized these images did not accurately reflect the girls they know.
Unrivalled in its clarity and coverage, this sparkling new edition of Chris Shilling's classic text is a masterful account of the emergence and development of body matters in sociology and related disciplines.A timely, well reasoned response to current concerns and controversies across the globe, it provides chapter-by-chapter coverage of the major theories, approaches and studies conducted in the field. Each chapter has been revised and updated, with new discussions of ‘action network theory’, bodywork, pragmatism, the global resurgence of religious identities, ‘new genetics’, biological citizenship, and figurations of the living and dead.Packed full of critical analysis and relevant empirical studies the book engages with the major classical and contemporary theories within body studies including the: Naturalistic; Constructionist; Structuralist; Realist; Interactionist; Feminist; PhenomenologicalOriginal, logical and indispensible, this is a must-have title for students and researchers engaged with the study of the body.
The American Diabetes Association currently recommends that all youth with type 1 diabetes over the age of 7 years follow a plan of intensive management. The purpose of this study was to describe stressors and self-care challenges reported by adolescents with type 1 diabetes who were undergoing initiation of intensive management. Subjects described initiation of intensive management as complicating the dilemmas they faced. The importance of individualized and nonjudgmental care from parents and health care providers was stressed. This study supports development of health care relationships and environments that are teen focused not merely disease-centered and embrace exploring options with the teen that will enhance positive outcomes.
THIS paper reports the methods and some findings from a study of young children's health-related beliefs and behaviours. The 52 children, aged four to 12 years, are the offspring of a sample of middle-class couples who participated in an in-depth multi-inter view qualitative study: "The social context of the development of health-related beliefs and behav iours, with special reference to the family". The field- work for both of these studies was carried out in Edinburgh from 1987 to 1989. After completion of their parents' study, the children were interviewed privately at home using a variety of innovative meth odological techniques appropriate to their ages. Each mode of questioning elicited different kinds of responses which, taken as a whole, illustrated: that children give both "public" and "private" accounts of health and illness; can hold apparently inconsist ent views about health simultaneously; often show limited knowledge or understanding of parents' health-related behaviours; and may reveal weak links between health-related attitudes and beliefs and behavioural practices.
In this paper we explore some key antionomies which have emerged in relation to children and childhood in late modernity: tensions between autonomy and protection and between perceptions of children as `at risk' and as potentially threatening. A particular focus here is on the sexualisation of risk, the degree of public concern expressed whenever the sexual `innocence' of children is thought to be endangered. We argue that the concept of risk anxiety provides a useful means of analysing contemporary fears about children and childhood and may thus be understood as contributing to the ongoing social construction of childhood. Here risk anxiety must be located within the context of gendered and generational power relations, in which children's lives are bounded by adult surveillance. Furthermore, risk anxiety may have material consequences for children's daily lives and for everyday adult-child negotiations around safety and danger, protection and autonomy.
Thesis (M.A.)--University of Georgia, 1994. Directed by Peggy J Kreshel. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-117).
In this paper we explore some current issues in, what has come to be called, the new sociology of childhood and how these relate to the process of researching children's lives in general, and to our own research in particular. We discuss the developmental model of childhood, before going on to explore ideas about children as, on the one hand, inhabiting a relatively autonomous realm and, on the other as part of the same social world as adults but with different sets of competencies. The implications of these differing positions for researching children will be assessed prior to a discussion of the design of our current research, on children and risk, and the wider implications of our reflections on the research process.
Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex'
- J Butler
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Representing Women: Myths of Femininity in the Popular Media
- M Macdonald
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- C Lumsden
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Reshaping the Female Body: The Dilemma of Cosmetic Surgery
- K Davis
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Faith in Fakes: Essays. Trans. William Weaver
- U Eco
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Children as Consumers
- B Gunter
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Kid SistersChocs Away: Weight Watching in the Contemporary Airline Industry
- C Sullivan
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Theorizing Childhood
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- A Prout
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Shopping Around: Feminist Culture and the Pursuit of Pleasure
- H Radner
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More!: New Sexualities in Girls' and Women's Magazines
- A Mcrobbie
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The Challenge in Child Research: From " Being " to " Doing Children in Families: Research and Policy
- A Solberg
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