RESEARCH 10 21/2008/E

Rebecca C. Hains Are super girls super for girls?

The negotiation of beauty ideals in girl power cartoons

Supergirls populating the screen as ninity can be positive and em- chologists find so dangerous, along active heroines are attractive role powering. Thus, girl power can be with all of its trappings. This means models for girls – but it is problem- considered a response to girls’ prob- that although girl power offers pro- atic that even with these characters lems, intended to empower pre-ado- gressive messages, from a feminist physical attractiveness is central. A lescent girls before they reach the perspective, it is simultaneously re- qualitative study from the USA crisis of female adolescence. By em- gressive as well. shows how 8- to 11-year-old girls bracing normative femininity, girl In girl power television programmes, judge the appearance of characters power offers cultural support to girls including television cartoons, the in girl power cartoons and how they and all things girlish. Girl power po- range of physical appearances po- relate it to their own body. sitions a feminine appearance as sitioned as socially acceptable is ex- something girls and women can en- tremely limited. Girl power cartoons act playfully, for their own pleasure, such as The Powerpuff Girls, Totally n the 1990s, prominent books rather than to satisfy a male gaze – a Spies, Kim Possible, My Life as a such as Mary Pipher’s Reviving progressive concept. Teenage Robot, Atomic Betty, and IOphelia (1994) raised public con- W.I.T.C.H. offer pre-adolescent view- cern by arguing that as girls approach ers strong, smart, brave female role adolescence, they face problems that Girl power and models who look wholesome, but boys do not: their self-esteem and aca- beauty ideals their bodies and personal styles have demic performance drop, and their little variance. Within the narratives concerns with their appearances in- Girl power is complex to negotiate, of girl power cartoon episodes, girls crease. Since then, numerous psycho- however. Girl power offers problem- whose physical appearances do not logical studies have indicated that atic messages alongside the positive: conform are positioned as outcasts, Western cultural beauty ideals are a Although girl power intends to sub- as unsuitable superheroes. They are major influence in the development vert normative femininity by making excluded from the girl power clique. of these problems. Factors such as its production about one’s own plea- This message is in dialogue with the family relationships, teasing by peers, sure, the end result of a girl power messages about female beauty that and media exposure have a negative ethos is a capitulation to dominant pre-teen girls receive from the effect on girls’ body images, which social constructs regarding girls and broader cultural environment: in pro- numerous studies have shown can femininity. Girls still aspire to gramming like American Idol, lead to serious issues including men- achieve a specific appearance as they America’s Next Top Model, and The tal health problems and eating dis- grow up: a face made up with cos- Swan; in advertisements, movies, and orders (e.g. Archibald et al., 1999; metics; long, straight hair, preferab- music; in toys and books; in televi- Byely et al., 2000; Davison/McCabe, ly blonde or at least highlighted; a sion news broadcasts; and from the 2006; Parkinson et al., 1998; Sands/ slender body with long legs and people around them. From these Wardle, 2003). shapely breasts; and clothing that sources, girls quickly learn the rules In the wake of the cultural attention accentuates the wearer’s figure, pre- of normative feminine beauty and to girls sparked by works such as Re- cariously balancing the virgin/whore how to achieve them through cloth- viving Ophelia, the concept of girl dichotomy: “good-girl” respectabil- ing, makeup, accessories, diet strate- power emerged. Girl power suggests ity with an implied “bad-girl” sexual gies, and plastic surgery. These rules that girls are strong and capable of availability. In short, girls still inter- are on display everywhere, as com- anything, and that playing with femi- nalise the female body ideal that psy- mon as the air that we breathe – and RESEARCH 21/2008/E 11 given about the same amount of crit- perspective, I used a bricolage of the back and then, like, they had a skirt, a ical thought. It is no wonder that pre- methods, including frequent inter- purple skirt, that goes up right up to right adolescent and adolescent girls fix- views with girls in groups at their af- there, to their waist. ate unhealthily on whether their ap- ter-care programmes (meeting twice ANGELA: Yeah, they could be rock stars pearance aligns with the usually im- weekly with each group over a peri- like that – not. REBECCA: [chuckles] Kylie, what did possible Western beauty ideal. Many od of several months); individual in- you think? criticise this ideal on the grounds that terviews in the homes of key infor- KYLIE: I think their outfit was cool be- most women cannot possibly attain mants, sometimes including conver- cause they have wings, and they got long, it in a healthy way (e.g. Wiseman et sations with their parents and sib- those long, um, big sleeves. And then they al., 1992), and psychologists have lings; and field observations during have this skirt that goes up like this and argued that media images cause body the girls’ library class periods and goes to their belly button – image issues and eating disorders lunch recess. ZOË: Like, at the bottom of – right here (Nemeroff et al., 1994; Stice, 1994; [pulling up her shirt and point to the bot- McCabe/Ricciardelli, 2001). Tigge- Physical appearance on screen tom of her belly button]. [some chuck- ling] mann (2005) found that children’s The girls I interviewed had surpris- KYLIE: And, um, I like their shoes and social learning from television in par- ingly little to say about the appear- their wings. And I also liked their hair a ticular has negative effects on their ances of the girl heroes they liked. In little bit. body images, and genres that fo- response to my asking, “What do you cussed on physical appearance (such think about how these girls look?”, This snippet of conversation illus- Audrey1 describ- trates the specificity with which my ed the Powerpuff informants could critique cartoon My Life as a Teenage Girls as “cool characters’ appearances, and it also Robot and pretty.” Zoë demonstrates how disagreement could Idea: Rob Renzetti and Kylie both lead to more fruitful conversation Jenny is a female teenager – and described them than simple agreement that characters a super power robot. Her “moth- er”, a scientist, constructed her as “pretty”. Kylie are “pretty”. Perhaps because “pret- to save the planet from catas- elaborated, “their ty” is the norm, mediated and mod- trophes, but Jenny would prefer hair, it’s always, elled throughout society, there is not to do something really interesting, e.g. to go to school. like, nice, and, much to say about it. Deviance is um, I like their easier to discuss. as soap operas) have an especially dresses […] and shoes.” Recalling an My informants and I watched sever- strong influence. Given this situation, episode of My Life as a Teenage Ro- al girl power cartoon episodes in then, girl power’s uncritical embrace bot in which Jenny receives a spray- which a main character’s physical and promotion of normative feminin- paint makeover, Desirée described appearance suddenly deviated from ity is a considerable problem. What Jenny as looking “cute” and “pretty.” the norm. For example, we screened are its implications for real girls? In contrast, my informants tended to Powerpuff episodes “The Mane be more specific about their dislikes. Event”, in which Blossom receives a For example, when Alex of Totally terrible haircut from her sisters, and How girls negotiate Spies became extremely muscular in “Twisted Sister”, in which the Girls girl power and “The Incredible Bulk”, Kylie said, create a new Powerpuff who is as normative femininity “She looked ugly. Her muscles made unsightly as she is an ineffectual su- her ugly and her voice made her perhero. We also screened several My I sought an answer to this question sound ugly.” Audrey agreed, saying, Life as a Teenage Robot episodes in through fieldwork. I spent over a year “She sounds like a man!” After we which the protagonist Jenny had studying two groups of pre-teen girls, screened W.I.T.C.H. (see ill. 1) for the trouble with her appearance, such as ages 8 to 11, who enjoyed watching first time, only a few weeks after it “Hostile Makeover”, in which Lexus, girl power cartoons. My informants had premiered on television, my in- a robot villain from outer space, tries lived in the suburbs of a major city formants debated whether the five su- to make Jenny join forces with her, on the east coast of the United States, perhero girls looked “cool” or “weird”. in part through the strategy of making with key informants composed of a her look ugly; and the Totally Spies ZOË: I think they looked weird because group of African-American girls and how small the wings were, and how high episode “Passion Patties”, in which a group of Caucasian girls from their socks were, and then, like, they had the Spies try to track down a villain neighbouring towns. Grounding my a green shirt and then they had a point in whose addictive cookies make peo- work in a feminist cultural studies the front, but, like, all flat and straight in ple who consume them obese. RESEARCH 12 21/2008/E

diction and grew Health Organization, 2007). It has se- W.I.T.C.H. obese, she and rious health implications, and people Idea: Elisabetta Gnone most other girls do not willingly become obese. My W.I.T.C.H. are the 12- and 13- year-old girls Will, Irma, Tara- found it funny to informants’ idea that obesity is pre- nee, Cornelia and Hay Lin see non-recur- ventable and funny is therefore a who are chosen as guardians ring characters problem. However, the cartoon we with magical powers. afflicted. When I watched does not bear particular re- Their mystic, dangerous task is to watch the safety net asked why, my sponsibility for that; to the contrary, which separates the good part informants fo- the cartoon’s narrative depicted nor- of the universe from the bad cussed on the mal people becoming overweight be- one. way the cartoon cause of a villain’s plot, one which characters were made self-control physically impos- My informants were generally sym- rendered. Zoë replied that they just sible. This suggests that as children’s pathetic when the main characters looked funny because their entire bo- cartoon viewing is in discourse with unwillingly deviated from normative dies were small, except for the stom- the ideas they have internalised from femininity. For example, regarding ach, “which is a big, humongous the surrounding culture, it is some- Jenny, the Teenage Robot, and her ball”. Kelly agreed: she said that they times difficult for them to grasp a constant quest to look more like a each looked like “a bouncing ball”, story’s moral – an important point, as “normal girl”: and Maria said they looked like her girl power and girl power cartoons are TIANA: [Jenny] probably feels like she’s hamster. often charged with boosting an outcast from everybody because she Angela concluded that it girls’ self-esteem through posi- probably doesn’t get invited to a lot of was funny because real tive lessons. social events […]. Anyway, like, she’d people can’t get as fat as Another episode whose lessons be at parties and stuff, she probably the characters in the car- my informants had trouble couldn’t get dressed up like the rest of toon. In other words, be- grasping was “Twisted Sister”, the girls, like ‘I’ll go buy a new dress’, cause of the medium, the in which the Powerpuff Girls and ‘I got a new Gucci pocketbook, I got girls did not take the con- sneak into their father’s labora- new jeans and sneakers’. She can’t, like, tent of “Passion Patties” tory. There, they create Bunny, wear that kind of stuff, she’s, like, blah. too seriously. However, a fourth Powerpuff who is ugly She can get, like, a paint job. social learning theory and unintelligent, unlike her Regarding Blossom of The Power- might suggest that the di- smart, pretty sisters. The epi- puff Girls, Bobbie expressed empa- vide between the fantasy sode contains several positive thy. world of cartoons and real- lessons: that children should BOBBIE: [The episode] was OK, um, but world situations is not as wide as we have a strong work ethic, that sneak- the strange thing is, is that Blossom had might think. In a comment that illu- ing around without a parent’s help can perfect hair and Bubbles and Buttercup strates this point, Angela went on to have dire consequences, and that one didn’t, and when I sleep over at my justify the humour of “Passion Pat- should not judge other people too friend’s house, they wake up with per- ties” by blaming the obese characters quickly. However, I also worry that fect hair, and I wake up and my hair is for their own problems: the cartoon inadvertently suggests the real knotty and it’s all over, and it’s just real problem with Bunny was not the strange, and I don’t they should’ve made ANGELA: They shouldn’t have opened their mouth so they wouldn’t eat any sneaky, careless way she was made, fun of Blossom because they should’ve but rather with the way that she look- thought of the consequences. cookies and they wouldn’t get fat. ed. Because of these concerns, I ask- As girls in the viewing audience gen- Children like my informants could ed my informants what they thought erally identify with the characters easily apply this logic to real-world the Powerpuff Girls learned in that they admire, my informants tended to situations. It implies it is okay to episode. Angela’s response was that see such situations from the charac- make fun of people for failing to the Powerpuff Girls did not learn a ters’ perspectives. In contrast, they conform when found it funny when one-off charac- conformity is ters unwittingly departed from pre- within their Totally Spies vailing feminine norms. For example, control. How- Idea: Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, David Michel The 3 super agents Sam, Alex and Clover repeatedly save the world while Angela did not like it when ever, obesity is and at the same time lead a normal teenage life like millions of other Clover of Totally Spies was afflicted a global epi- girls, too. with the “Passion Patties” cookie ad- demic (World RESEARCH 21/2008/E 13

Sister”. In addi- people became obese in “Passion Powerpuff Girls tion to the pro- Patties”, Bobbie revealed that she did Idea: Craig McCracken ducers’ intended not agree with the other girls’ percep- The 3 pre-school girls Blos- som, Bubbles and Buttercup messages, Zoë tion of its humour, or even with are not only cute-looking: also indicated that Angela’s assertion that real people After an experiment of their Bunny would cannot get that fat. The lone voice of mentor, Professor Utonium, they are equipped with super have turned out dissent, she negotiated this storyline powers. Together, they fight alright if the in a different, more personal way than the evil in their hometown Powerpuff’s fa- did the other informants. She seemed as the Powerpuff Girls. ther had helped to empathise with all of the charac- them, because ters – not just the girl heroes – in part lesson “because”, she said, “there’s she would neither have been “stupid” because she said she was often teased nothing to learn.” A year later, when nor have “had all these weird prob- about her weight. She read the car- I visited her at home, Angela insisted lems with her body”. Yet one of the toon as in discourse with her own that only programmes for younger episode’s lessons was not to judge painful experiences. As a result, my children teach lessons to their view- people by how they look, and it at- informants’ conversation quickly ers. tempted to separate Bunny’s be- turned from laughter to quiet reflec- ANGELA: [The cartoons I watch] don’t haviour from her appearance. Her tion as Bobbie shared how her peers have a point to the show, they don’t, like, “weird problems” with her body were make fun of her for being “fat”. beside the point. Zoë’s response con- have a goal, like, to be, um, like, they don’t BOBBIE: I’m big-boned, so a lot of peo- learn a lesson every day. But they don’t, flated the real problem – the way the ple say that my thighs are really fat. like, learn a lesson, like, like, on the Tele- girls created Bunny, and her resultant REBECCA: Oh! tubbies – wait, not on the Teletubby – on undesirable behaviour – with Bun- BOBBIE: But – it really annoys me. I’m The Wiggles – “time to share! Let’s share! ny’s appearance. jealous because all my friends, like, most This is how we share! We take a toy, give Might the intended message of people you look at them, their thighs are, it to somebody else, and play with it.” “Twisted Sister” have been received like, this big [making a circle with her Among some girls, then, the well-in- more clearly if Bunny looked as cute thumbs and forefingers]. I’m so jealous. tended lessons of girl power cartoons as her sisters – if the visual of a non- REBECCA: Yeah. I never had thighs that big. [Molly, the day-care employee who may not be consciously learned, part- normative girl had not been associat- is in the room with the group, starts to ly because they perceive a difference ed with all the other problems that laugh a little.] between educational programmes for arose in the episode? Among some BOBBIE: And, you know what else? pre-schoolers and the cartoons for girls, the well-intended lessons of girl Like, if, like, there’s this girl that lives pre-teens. The former teach, but the power cartoons may not be learned, down my street – sometimes she’s my latter only entertain and are not to be because viewers sometimes conflate friend, sometimes she hates me, like, and taken seriously. Other girls in my stu- appearances with personality traits. sometimes she can be, like, really, really dy recognised that cartoons have ped- This is one of the reasons why so rude – […] when she wants to play with agogical functions, though. many scholars have criticised the ste- the other people, who are my friends, it reotyping of women, minorities, for- always causes a big fight, and she’s, like, KYLIE: The lesson is never to go into “Well, you’re so fat!” eigners, the elderly, and other margin- somebody else’s lab, and don’t create MOLLY: Well, that’s rude. something that’s dumb. alised groups in the media (e. g. REBECCA: That is really rude. ZOË: The lesson is, you shouldn’t go Gerbner/Signorielli, 1979; Gerbner, BOBBIE: She calls everybody fat. And, in someone’s lab without the person’s per- 1998; Tuchman, 1978). I fear that in um, people call me fat all the time – mission, and […] next time, ask Profes- many cases, the physical appearances REBECCA: I’m sorry they do that! sor to help you make another one so she of girl power cartoon characters com- BOBBIE: – and I hate it. won’t explode and she won’t be stupid pete with or negate other, more pos- like Bunny. And she won’t cry, like, eve- itive aspects of these shows. As time went on, my informants of- ry time they say she wasn’t a good one, ten shared such stories with our cuz she would be a good one if they didn’t create her without Professor because she Physical appearance group, confiding about the cruel just had all these weird problems with her in everyday life things that other children had said to body – hump back, crooked teeth, feet Conversations about the appearances them. Simultaneously, however, they spaced out, hairy ears, all this other stuff. of girl heroes often segued into con- were quick to judge others on the versations about my informants’ own basis of appearance. For example, Kylie and Zoë seemed to have a ba- appearances. For example, after talk- Rhea once said, “No offence, but my sic grasp of the moral of “Twisted ing about how funny it was when principal wears her pants all the way RESEARCH 14 21/2008/E right here [pointing to a spot right drawings. They often expressed a forming appearances. Physical ap- above her navel]”, eliciting a laugh desire to be thinner, as well as to wear pearances contain their own semiot- from her peers. They dismissed Brit- more stylish clothing. Some girls ic messages, which compete with and ney Spears as “chubby”, and they went further, expressing a desire to contradict the narrative messages of used appearance to judge material change just about everything about some television cartoons. As such, my culture, too. For example, my infor- themselves: to diminish their height, informants had trouble grasping the mants enjoyed discussing Bratz dolls, shoe size, the size of their teeth, as intended lessons of girl-power car- fashion dolls of diverse racial identi- well as their eye colour, hair colour, toon narratives – lessons such as not ties that meet the dominant standards hair texture, and more. By wishing judging people based on their appear- of feminine beauty to which so many for such drastic, holistic changes to ance. This implies that visual stereo- girls aspire. My informants volunteer- their appearances, my informants ex- typing conflates appearance and per- ed that they not only wanted to play pressed consuming worries that their sonality for pre-teen viewers, teach- with Bratz dolls; they also wanted to bodies did not align with the excep- ing them the opposite: that you can look and dress like them – in re- tionally thin ideal that they perceived tell a book by its cover. vealing halter tops or belly shirts, in as the norm. short skirts or tight pants, and with Through their “bling-bling” accessories. Unlike words and the Bratz Barbie, who at least came in astro- pictures they Idea: Carter Bryant naut and teacher editions, dressing up drew for me, sev- Bratz, that is the 4 school- in revealing clothing is the only pas- eral informants girls Yasmin, Sasha, Jade and Cloe who have a lot time that Bratz dolls seem to model seemed to sug- in common. In their close- for young girls. As stated in the manu- gest that they knit clique they share a facturers’ promotional copy for the wished their bo- “passion for fashion”, they “Funk N Glow” line of Bratz dolls, dies would just know the latest trends and publish their own teen- recommended for children ages 6 to shrink away (see lifestyle magazine. 11, “Bratz know how important it is ill. 2) – which to be seen!” (cf. also Lamb/Brown, does not suggest 2006, pp. 218-219). that a lifetime immersed in girl pow- The girls I interviewed were quick to As mentioned earlier, my informants er rhetoric, including girl power car- critique the appearances of girls and often shared with our group the hurt- toons, has effectively addressed the women in popular culture if those ful comments that other children problems that Mary Pipher brought appearances did not align closely made about their appearances. Our to the public consciousness more than enough with normatively feminine conversations often segued from 10 years ago. Today’s girls have just ideals. Unfortunately, they were also what other people said into self-criti- as many concerns with their appear- frequently criticised in similar ways cisms. My informants assessed their ance as did those girls who grew up by their peers, and they attended to own bodies with the same critical eye without the support of girl power. broader cultural messages about the that they cast upon celebrities and What does this mean? pursuit of normative femininity. At Bratz dolls. For example, shortly af- various points, they even demonstrat- ter Bobbie told us how people would ed a basic awareness of diet strate- tease her by calling her fat, Angela Conclusions gies and eating disorders. These facts said, “I think I am kinda chubby.” She had implications in my informants’ commented, “I want to be like my In my study, several interconnected everyday lives. My informants were dad, because he’s skinny, but he eats findings emerged about girl power quite critical of their own appearance. so much – I don’t ever see him eat and the negotiation of normative fem- They knew how to critique the ap- any fruit – or vegetables. But he’s so ininity. The girls in my study had a pearances of girls and women in pop- skinny.” My informants spoke easily hard time specifying what they liked ular culture, and they had learned to about how they wished they could about their girl power heroes’ appear- turn these critical tools on themselves. look, and their wishes always aligned ances, but they could easily critique Unfortunately, when they measured with the ideals of normative feminin- the appearances of non-normative themselves against the ideal, they ity that are promoted by girl power characters. My informants seemed could see that they fell short. and the broader cultural environment. more likely to empathise with heroes Given the broader cultural context, The desire to be thin ran strong who unwillingly failed to conform, the idea of empowering girls through among my informants, emerging in but made fun of non-recurring char- television content seems like a Sisy- my informants’ conversation and acters similarly afflicted with noncon- phean task. Any progressive mes- RESEARCH 21/2008/E 15

sages contained by girl power car- Dialogic theory is quite helpful in Retrieved April 26, 2007, from http://www.media- toons are drowned in the sea of nor- making sense of this. Most problems awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/ reports/diversity/american_scene.cfm. mative femininity in which our socie- with girl power are non-exclusive to Gerbner, G.; Signorielli, S. (1979, October). Women ty swims. It might help if girl power girl power itself. For this reason, it is and minorities in television drama, 1969-1978. Phil- cartoons could avoid capitulating to difficult to debate the merits of girl adelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, Annen- the norm and subvert it – not with power cartoons themselves, for any berg School of Communications. Lamb, S.; Brown, L. M. (2006). Packaging girlhood: inward intentionality, but through girl who views them brings with her Rescuing our daughters from marketers’ schemes. outward action. The question is, what the biases and perspectives of the New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press. would such a cartoon look like, and broader cultural environment, with its Nemeroff, C. J.; Stein, R. I.; Diehl, N. S.; Smilack, K. M. (1994). From the Cleavers to the Clintons: could it succeed in the marketplace? laudatory views on the normative Role choices and body orientation as reflected in Girls are indoctrinated into normative feminine beauty ideal. As a result, girl magazine article content. In: International Journal femininity from such an early age that power cartoons’ deliberate messages of Eating Disorders, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 167-176. girls may not even be willing to watch about not judging people based on Parkinson, K. N.; Tovee, M. J.; Cohen-Tovee, E. M. (1998). Body shape perceptions of preadolescent a programme in which role- and young adolescent children. In: European model girls did not meet their Eating Disorders Review, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. high standards for physical ap- 126-135. Pipher, M. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: Saving pearance. the selves of adolescent girls. New York, NY: It might help if producers creat- Random House. ed more girl-centred cartoons in Sands, E. R.; Wardle, J. (2003). Internaliza- tion of ideal body shapes in 9-12-year-old which the girl heroes are not girls. In: International Journal of Eating Dis- teenagers, but younger girls, orders, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 193-204. more like the Powerpuffs. A stu- Stice, E. (1994). Review of the evidence for a dy by Wardle and Watters (2004) sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa and an exploration of the mechanisms of action. revealed that going to school In: Clinical Psychology Review, vol. 14, no. 7, with older girls is correlated with pp. 633-661. 9- to 11-year-old girls having Ill. 2: “How I look” (left) and “How I would like to look” Tiggemann, M. (2005). Television and ado- (right) lescent body image: The role of program greater levels of body dissatis- content and viewing motivation. In: Journal faction. The researchers found that appearance are sometimes over- of Social and Clinical Psychology, vol. 24, no. such girls have higher incidences of whelmed by what girls bring to their 3, pp. 361-381. Tuchman, G. (1978). Introduction: The symbolic body image issues, including having viewing, making the progressive con- annihilation of women by the mass media. In: internalised a thinner female ideal tent of such shows misunderstood, Tuchman,G.; Daniels, A. K.; Benét, J. (eds.). Hearth body and perceiving oneself as more misinterpreted, or unnoticed. and home: Images of women in the mass media. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. overweight, than girls who go to a Wardle, J.; Watters, R. (2004). Sociocultural in- school with a smaller age range of fluences on attitudes to weight and eating: Results students. If this is the case, the same NOTE of a natural experiment. In: International Journal of Eating Disorders, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 589-596. social learning implications might ap- 1 All informant names have been changed. Wiseman, C. V.; Gray, J. J.; Mosimann, J. E.; Ah- ply to girls watching television pro- rens, A. H. (1992). Cultural expectations of thinness grammes and consuming other popu- in women: An update. In: International Journal of lar culture artefacts depicting girls Eating Disorders, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 85-89. REFERENCES World Health Organization (2007). Global strategy older than themselves. There is no on diet, physical activity and health. Retrieved April easy answer, however; after all, aspi- Archibald, A. B., Graber, J. A.; Brooks-Gunn, J. 27, 2007, from http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/ rational viewing occurs across most (1999). Associations among parent-adolescent publications/facts/obesity/en. relationships, pubertal growth, dieting, and body segments of society, and tween girls image in young adolescent girls: A short-term longi- are keen on getting a taste of teenage tudinal study. In: Journal of Research on Adoles- life – of glimpsing into their futures. cence, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 395-415. Byely, L.; Archibald, A. B.; Graber, J. A.; Brooks- However, I think fire is largely fuel- Gunn, J. (2000). A prospective study of familial and THE AUTHOR led by the girl culture industry. Would social influences on girls’ body image and dieting. girls be so eager to play at growing up In: International Journal of Eating Disorders, vol. 28, Rebecca C. Hains, no. 2, pp. 155-164. if the marketplace wasn’t funded with Ph.D., is an As- Davison, T. E.; McCabe, M. P. (2006). Adolescent the countless dollars spent persuading body image and psychosocial functioning. In: Jour- sistant Professor of girls to want to do so? nal of Social Psychology, vol. 146, no. 1, pp. 15-30. Communications at It seems that girls negotiate girl power Gerbner, G. (1998). Casting the American scene: A Salem State Col- look at the characters on prime time and daytime lege in Salem, Mas- in the same way that they negotiate television from 1994-1997. The 1998 Screen Actors sachusetts, USA. the rest of our cultural environment. Guild report: Casting the American scene, Dec. 1998.