Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media

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"Where the Girls Are" is a tour through and a look at how pop culture affected girls and women. It is a thought provoking, sarcastic, and very witty portrayal from a woman who admits to having an "attitude problem." The targets are taken from literature, movies, TV and music, and include everything and everyone from "Bewitched," The Shirelles, "Sex and the Single Girl," Charlie's Angels, Murphy Brown and Madonna. She also examines famous feminists'impact including Kate Millett, Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug. The book contains plenty of quotes from anti-feminists, as well, to show (at least in this reviewer's eyes) just how ridiculous if often effective the opposition to the Women's Movement was.One thing. The author laments that role models in children's literature are "few and far between." Either she is making a blanket statement, or she has no experience. Young adult and children's lit, even back in 1994 when the book was published, are a treasure trove of strong, positive female heroines.

I really loved reading this book. It made me laugh so hard as I am a female, mom, wife born in the 1950s so everything she shares about being a female of these times was right on. I had an angry mother with too many children, too much work, a macho husband and not enough money and swore that I would never be like her. Lo and behold, I ended up more like her than I wanted to admit so while analyzing my own faults, this book was recommended to me. Yeah!! It made me lighten up on myself while understanding a media message that was and is larger than all of us women together. I see a environment where they pitted us woman against each other and still do. Maybe they are afraid of us being united without the hairy legs of the 70's. (Bad joke) This book was funny, engaging and a must read especially if you are from the 50's or 60's. It works for 70's and 80's too I am sure but this has a very powerful message delivered with humor. Thank God. I always joke about the "Sleeping Beauty" song, "Some Day My Prince Will Come" not really understanding the power those songs and movies had on me as a child. Highly recommend!

I loved this book as it pulled my experience of growing up--the music, the TV shows--through the 50's and 60's and how the media shaped up and how we shaped the media to demand the changes to culture that were necessary (the women's movement). There is a follow-up book that continues the stories from the 90's to the 2000's called Enlightened Sexism. I'm looking forward to finishing it as something happened to halt our progress. But I did learn from the first book that that's the way it goes. There is a constant push-pull and getting the perspective looking back that you just can't while you're in it was so informative.

For anyone born after the baby boomers, the constant references to TV shows, music, and movies for illustrating points makes the book nearly unreadable.She draws almost exclusively on the feelings people felt while watching or listening while growing up. Having missed that generation, I can't identify with that woman. I believe her premise, that women are shaped by the messages they receive growing up, is accurate, but she does a poor job of illustrating it to anyone outside her generation (and maybe inside, I don't know).I'd love to see this book redone with a little more relevance to all women.

Wonderfully written, Great insight into the journey that is women in America. Douglas does a superb job of comedy and satire mixed in with serious and relevant issues to today. She slams old fashioned stereotypes and gives a great history of the evolution of women in America from the 40's even though it wasn't written to 2013 I would still argue to now. A great read for women and men because she gives perspective to the culture, media, and influences for both genders. I would highly recommend it to all to gain a greater perspective. She's very witty and knows what she's talking about

I read an excerpt from this book for a women's studies class I was taking and liked it so much that I decided to buy the whole book. Douglas has a great writing style that is interesting and not overly dense. She manages to capture the essence of these serious issues in the media with humor and wit. She also touches on intersectionality when talking about various issues, which is key when doing any kind of feminist analysis. Overall, this was a great read.

Ever wonder why you think about yourself like you do? This book will tell you. The Media has been working on women and their self image for years. No wonder we are never satisfied with how we look, feel, think. But getting away from that is a challenge.

I bought this book for my dissertation and ended up reading it for leisure! Very interesting reading about how things have progressed through a comedic author. Anyone interested in history and how society has changed should definately read this!

Brilliant book, a bit repetitive at points but really easy to follow and highly interesting. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in US feminism and the 60s.

great