By: Joan Jacobs
Brumberg
Genre: Non-Fiction,
Women and Gender Studies, Social Commentary, History
In this book, Brumberg examines the one hundred years of
history between 1895 and 1995, and how society’s attitude has changed toward
young women. She asks the question, even though we are now free of corsets and
have more rights, do we really have it any better than our Victorian ancestors?
To answer this, she cites passages from diaries of teenage girls dating back to
the 1800s, research, and anecdotes from her own experiences as a teen and a
professor.
One of her first claims is that girls didn’t focus on their body
image until the 1920s. Before that, during the Victorian era, they focused
mostly on being a good person and less upon their looks. “They almost always
focused on the internal character and how it was reflected in outward behavior.”
(p. xxi) Brumberg cites this as one of the major differences between girls of
that era and girls of today – who believe the shape of their bodies and their
appearance is what primarily reflects their individuality. Brumberg believes
that this is due to changes in attitudes toward the developing female body,
both medically and socially, it being especially influenced by media,
advertising and fashion.
In some instances I’m sure this is very true, and the
evidence she gives supporting her claims as to the medical attitudes seems to
hold up well. However, she also blames the commercialization of sanitary
napkins and tampons of ushering young girls into consumer culture too quickly.
She says this is because when girls begin to menstruate, their mothers
introduce them to a specific brand, and henceforth, they continue to buy that
brand. I don’t see the logic in that. When I first went through menarche I
grabbed what was handy. I may have since developed a brand loyalty, because
certain products work better for me, but none were ever pushed on me as a
developing teen.
Another issue Brumberg has that I don’t understand is the
commercial treatment of acne. Maybe this is because I still live in an era
where acne is considered gross and unattractive, but if it can be treated, I
don’t see the problem with doing so. I had terrible acne as a teen, and I still
battle it in my mid-twenties. It’s not fun, and I use both a commercial
face-wash (that happens to work very well, thank you) and a prescribed cream
from my doctor. I get that she feels the ads are are hurting their self-esteem
by telling young teens that acne makes them less desirable. Having acne in
general hurts the self-esteem, especially when you get picked on for it by your
school mates. As Brumberg proved in her history of acne, it has always been an
undesirable thing, linked to syphilis and being dirty, and a negative attitude
about it still exists today. Maybe she could suggest a way to change attitudes
toward acne?
As other reviewers have stated, it is problematic that
Brumberg only really focused on the white, middle class population of young
women during her research. There is one small mention of a black girl, and very
little exploration into the differences in attitude between African American
culture and White culture on the topic of young female bodies. There is no
mention of Hispanic or Asian views on the topic either, just straight white
middle class culture.
I also didn’t like how she worded her beginning to her
chapter on sexuality. She makes it seem like homosexuality/lesbianism is a
choice – which wasn’t apparent in the rest of the chapter, but still irked me.
I don’t think she meant it to come off as it did, but I’ve never met a gay
person who “chose” to be that way, and I found it an offensive implication. She
also linked homosexuality with the practice of S&M – which is something
that many heterosexual couples also practice.
Lastly, she blames the over-sexualization of little girls
for a rise in pedophilia. I don’t necessarily buy that. I’m sure it doesn’t
help the issue, don’t get me wrong, I’m not for the sexualizing of young girls.
I just feel like pedophilia didn’t seem to exist to Brumberg until relatively
recently, when it has been around for ages, just not as fully looked into as it
is today. Child abuse wasn’t even really considered a serious crime until the
1960s, and before that, sex of any kind was considered shameful to talk about.
Children could have been abused physically, sexually, or emotionally and felt
it wasn’t something they could talk about – and if they did, no one else would
think it was wrong. They may not have even had the words to describe it, as
Victorian girls didn’t have the vocabulary to discuss their own bodies. Also,
if sexualization of little girls is solely to blame for pedophilia, what about
the ones that prefer little boys? I don’t mean to be disturbing or dwell on a
nasty topic, but the fact is that some like little girls and some like little
boys, and I don’t feel that young boys are as sexualized as girls are.
I did like the historical aspects of the book, however. I
find history in general very interesting, but women’s history is even more so.
I learned from this book that having excessive acne in the Victorian era made
people think you had a lot of sex or masturbated frequently. I also learned
that gynecology was developed in the late 1800s, but its first major use was
checking to see if a girl was still a virgin. Also, doctors felt that rectal
exams were less invasive than vaginal ones. Another interesting thing I learned
was that when tampons were invented, the general public believed them to be
little more than dildos that women would use to masturbate. There is much more,
but these four things are what I remember most.
I also like Brumberg’s thought of bringing back the
Victorian idea of girl’s groups, where young ladies could meet each other and
be mentored by older girls/women. I think I benefitted greatly by having strong
female role models in my life, and now, especially when we live in such a
fast-paced society, girls probably need the guidance more than ever. We live in
a time where some parents have to work really long hours and don’t always have
as much time to spend with their children – many kids end up being raised by a
television set, and the media definitely does have a poisonous effect on body
image. Being able to talk about these concerns with someone older who has dealt
with the same issues would greatly help young girls develop healthier attitudes
toward their bodies.
Overall, while the book is worth the read, it is a bit
outdated, and some of Brumberg’s opinions didn’t make a lot of sense to me. The
best aspects of the book to me were the parts that dealt solely with the
historic beliefs, facts and laws. I also liked the diary excerpts, even if the
sampling was only from one small portion of our society. Brumberg does have
some good ideas, but some of her beliefs are a little far-fetched for me,
making them hard to follow and/or agree with. I think the book could have been
researched and edited a little more, based on more evidence and less conjecture
from the author, but it is still an informative read.
5/10
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