Progress Evaluation: Lesson Four

Identification Questions
A. Backlash Backlash, as explained by Faludi, was the antifeminist reaction to the threat
that was posed by the gains that second-wave feminism had made. The backlash tried to
tell society that the cost of the womens movement was personal misery. What supported
the idea of backlash being a real issue was the United States heading in a conservative
direction, the New Right blaming issues on the womens movement, and the defeat of the
Equal Rights Amendment.
B. The personal is political This is the idea that feminist tried to show other women.
Women needed to realize that the personal issues that they were struggling with at home
and in their lives were political issues. This idea supports the notion that everything that
people deal with in their lives can be tied back to a political issue. Feminists used this
idea to try and get women to join them in the fight for womens rights.
C. The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique to change the
ideas of housewives. The book was on the best-seller list from April-July in 1963. The
book was about her casting aside the idea of biology as destiny and Freuds ideas. She
wrote the book to remind women of all of the unfinished work in the womens movement
and to help push them to help fight.
D. Third-wave Feminism Third-wave feminism is the feminism that women find
themselves a part of after growing up under the influence of feminism, the backlash
against it, and all of the political and cultural events since the womens movements.
Third-wave feminists fight for the rights for women that have not yet been won and
acknowledge the ground broken by feminists before them.
E. Facade of perkiness Perkiness was something that Douglas points out was pushed
onto teenagers in the mid-1960s. Girls were looking for people to emulate as a way to
feel whole, and they clung to the idea of the Perkiness and happiness of models in
magazines and actresses on television.

Essays
Everything changes with time, and that is no exception when you talk about the
ideas of girlhood over time. In the 1950s and 60s young girls were pushed to work hard
with the idea that they too could go to college and become successful. They were
targeted by popular culture in specific ways that molded most of them into the young
women they then became. Just like in the 1950s and 60s, as a young girl I was always
told I could do whatever I wanted with my life as well, the dream was just much more
realistic. Growing up in the 90s, I was also molded by popular culture, but in different
ways. The idea of what girlhood is and how it should be targeted by popular culture may
share some similarities, but has definitely shifted from the 1950s and 60s to the period
that I grew up in, the 1990s.
Girlhood in the 1950s and 60s is greatly described by Douglas in her book Where
the Girls Are. In Chapter one, Fractured Fairy Tales, she talks about reading the Weekly
Reader in school. These Weekly Readers made her believe that she was going to be able
to go to college because America was pushing all of their children to be more educated
because of advances the Soviet Union had made in technology. Just like when Douglas
was in school, my time in school also told me that I could go to college and be successful
as well. The only change in that would be the fact that there was no pushing factor
behind my foretold success. If it the United States were not in such a panicked state
about their place in the world, I feel like the chances of girls being told such things in the
1.C
1950s would not have happened. Douglas talks about Barbie dolls and how they had
phrases on the Barbie game like You Are Not Ready When He Calls Miss One Turn
or He Criticizes Your Hairdo Go to the Beauty Shop. Whenever I read this it really
pointed out a major change in the Barbie brand alone throughout time. Whenever I was
growing up as a girl in the 90s, sure some of my Barbies were wearing the feminine
clothes that would have been the equivalent to Barbie clothes in the 1950s and 60s, but
the Barbies that I enjoyed were the Doctors and Astronauts. While Barbie still had the
femininity to her that the 1950s and 60s Barbie had, she had also transformed into
something new, a woman that could look good and make something out of her life. I feel
like the transformation of the Barbie from beautiful and subservient to a man to beautiful
and successful on her own, shows a big change in what popular culture thought about
girls and what they could become in life. The next change in popular culture and their
trying to reach young girls would be cartoons on television. Douglas points out that
Disney movies were always teaching her and other young girls that they should beware of
other girls, especially pretty ones, and that they should also learn to eliminate or disguise
their imperfections otherwise no one would ever love them. When I grew up in the
1990s there were many cartoons that embodied many different sides of what the media
wanted to embed into girls, but the one that struck me the hardest was Kim Possible.
Kim Possible was a Disney cartoon about a young pre-teen girl who saved the world
from evil villains. What made me like Kim Possible so much was the fact that she did
everything on her own and was as strong as any other guy. Actually on the show Kim
Possible had a guy friend, Ron Stoppable, and she was much more masculine than he
ever was. Kim Possible was a show for young girls to help convince them that they can
be as strong, if not stronger, than men and also do whatever they want if they set their
mind to it. Kim Possible is the biggest jump that could have been taken with popular
culture from the 1950s and 60s, because nothing like that would have been aired for
young girls back then.
In conclusion, when I grew up in the 90s I also had feminine qualities advertised
to me through popular culture, but I was also shown much more that no girl in the 50s or
60s would have been. I think that popular culture has come a long way in realizing what
girls are capable of and the idea of them in general.

2. The magazine that I chose to read and analyze was Seventeen magazine. Looking
through the magazine I was able to see many common trends in what messages they were
trying to push through to girls, but at the same time there were a couple messages that did
not fit together.
The first thing that caught my eye about Seventeen, as well as many other
magazines designed for girls, is all of the pressure to look good. There are ads for
makeup, clothing, hygiene products, and basically anything else you could ask for to
help, hopefully, improve ones appearance. The ads themselves are as manipulative as
the articles written in the magazine. The big thing about ads would be the fact that all of
the girls that are modeling are stick thin and beautiful, of course most girls want to look
like this and the ads are saying that if you buy these products that one would be on the
right track to beauty. One ad that really caught my attention was for Olay face wipes and
moisturizer. The ad says, I will look like I got all my beauty sleep, even if Im up all
night. This ad relates more to the girl who is on the go, the girl who does not have the
opportunity to sleep a full nights worth, but still wants to look well rested. This ad is a
little different from the models wearing designer clothes, but the premise of beauty still
powers through as well. What is not covered in these ads is the reason behind why girls
should strive for beauty, but it is brought up in one of the articles. Valentines day looks
for you is the section in Seventeen where they show all of the hot new looks for the
coming up holiday. On page 59, it is said that It will be love at first sight when you set
your eyes on a flirty dress perfect for your style. Girls here can believe that by looking
good they are making themselves happy, that the idea of being beautiful is all about them.
But, on page 62, the idea is switched to Keep your crushs eyes on you all night long.
These custom looks do the trick. Here girls are told that they are dressing up and
looking good for a date, so that they are good-looking enough to get attention.
Seventeen contradicts themselves with these statements, should girls be beautiful for
themselves or so they can have attention, and maybe one day love, from others?
Of course in the magazine there had to be young men. In Seventeen there is a
four page spread of male models, clearly appealing to the fact that most girls want a man
in their life who is gorgeous. The pictures of the men is not the what bothered me
though, it was the fact that underneath each picture of these models is a description of
them, most of which include what they are looking for in a girl or the Coolest thing a
girl can do. When I saw all of these guys describing what girls could do for them to
make them happy, it did not impress me. I feel like the fact that Seventeen is promoting
what girls can do to make these men happy shows that they feel like girls feel like it is
their job to make men happy. On the note of men and relationships there is another four
page spread about finding real love. The article starts off, Sure, you dont need a
relationship youre awesome on your own, sister! But it is nice.... as it goes on to
describe all of the things that girls could only do with a man inside of a relationship. It
starts off so strong, supporting the fact that women do not have to rely on men and can
clearly be happy without, but then starts describing how sad they would be without that
man. The next two pages are how about how happy these couples are together and how
they met, of course readers should follow this information because they too would be
much happier with love in their lives. I feel like both the articles about men and
relationships start off saying women are independent and are great that way, but then the
more you read they get down into how the classic girl should fall for a man because
without one, how happy could she really be? Its just like back in the 1950s when
women were expected to be housewives, but with a modern twist.
The only article that I felt like really portrayed a newer girls role in society was
the one page article about girls in school and how to deal with stress. At least Seventeen
is showing and supporting the fact that girls are getting educated just as well as men in
todays society. While I would have liked to have seen more about girls in school,
maybe informing younger girls about college, this article at least shows that they are
making an effort.
After reading all of Seventeen, I have to say that most of the magazine is aimed
towards the idea that women should make themselves as good looking as they possibly
can. The magazine and ads themselves though vary between if girls should do this for
themselves though or for the attention and love of others. Men and love are idolized and
shown to girls that a relationship is something that they should strive for, while getting an
education is a side note and only mentioned once. Seventeen is not really keeping up
with societies roles of girls today, but does a good job of mixing new ideas in so the old
roles are not so dominant.