The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
majkf's review against another edition
4.0
An extremely informative look at female body image throughout history. The descriptions of the time periods were in-depth and looked at all factors contributing to gender roles. Brumberg used girls' personal diaries as a source of individual information throughout and those entries took this book to new level of awesome. I think it's a great jumping-off point for discussion of body image in American girls.
ashlynnlee_14's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars? I don’t know
I pretty much agree with all of the points everyone else has brought up in their reviews. This book lacks diversity and focuses strictly on the middle class white cis straight woman. This was published in 1997, so it makes sense that it wouldn’t conform to our 2019 standards of diversity. I’d love to see Brumberg release a more diverse sequel that touches on the experiences of POC.
I enjoyed learning about the history behind body insecurity and the sexualization of women. Others seem to have an issue with the final chapter of this book and its lack of sex positivity, but I did not interpret it that way. Brumberg explains that both Victorian and modern-day methods of handling female sexuality are not sufficient, and we must improve our methods of sexual education and an open, honest dialogue regarding our bodies. There are problems in both conservative and laissez faire ideologies of female sexuality. We have to find a way to meet in the middle in order to assure a healthy sexual climate for our youth. How we go about doing that, I am not sure. But it’s something we’ve got to work on.
I pretty much agree with all of the points everyone else has brought up in their reviews. This book lacks diversity and focuses strictly on the middle class white cis straight woman. This was published in 1997, so it makes sense that it wouldn’t conform to our 2019 standards of diversity. I’d love to see Brumberg release a more diverse sequel that touches on the experiences of POC.
I enjoyed learning about the history behind body insecurity and the sexualization of women. Others seem to have an issue with the final chapter of this book and its lack of sex positivity, but I did not interpret it that way. Brumberg explains that both Victorian and modern-day methods of handling female sexuality are not sufficient, and we must improve our methods of sexual education and an open, honest dialogue regarding our bodies. There are problems in both conservative and laissez faire ideologies of female sexuality. We have to find a way to meet in the middle in order to assure a healthy sexual climate for our youth. How we go about doing that, I am not sure. But it’s something we’ve got to work on.
melissa_h's review against another edition
3.0
Very interesting, just seemed a bit like a textbook to me at times so I only read about half.
jobinsonlis's review against another edition
3.0
I found the book's research questionable at times and I didn't like the way that she talked about race, homosexuality, and 90s fashion trends, but as a history of a very specific type of girls and their bodies in America, it was pretty fascinating stuff.
toribeck's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.5
The author covers many topics from undergarments and dieting to plastic surgery and virginity. So much information, narrated by the diaries of girls from decades past. I appreciated the author's intent to advocate for education and care for girls in order to promote understanding and protection.
tiakiwi's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.5
This book claims an intimate look at American girls but it should be more an intimate look at middle class white American girls. There is a lot of information about history of beauty products and commercialism leading to reasons why these girls grew up this way. There are some interesting parts of the book but in whole I wouldn't recommend.