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

by Susan J. Douglas
Times Books, 1995

Review by Anne Stefango
What do you see when you watch television? This book may change your view. In Where the Girls Are, Susan Douglas discusses shows from different decades that mostly promote strong competent women, such as I Love Lucy and Bewitched; along with shows that show women as helpless, such as The Donna Reed Show and I Dream of Jeanie. As she discusses these shows, she also fills in with history of the feminist movement and how the government and television news reacted to feminism. We found the history very helpful, especially in the context of how the shows were based on perceived popular culture. Women went to work in World War II with the government's encouragement and a national day care program. Therefore, you have shows with strong female characters, such as I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners. When the men came home, women were encouraged to stay at home, so television showed The Donna Reed Show and Ozzie and Harriet. She also discusses television advertising as it is marketed to girls and women.

Overall, television is still a man's world, and these men present their view of women and how they behave (or should behave!). From the 70s on, this view seems to be more ambivalent Take the Charlie's Angels example. Charlie's Angels is about three women who work together to solve crimes and assist other people. They are smart and athletic; they use guns. From that view, a fairly feminist program. Yet Charlie's Angels is about three very beautiful women, who run around in string bikinis and are given their cases by Charlie - a disembodied male voice over the speakerphone.

Reading this book made many of us want to review old television shows and movies, and listen to music from the 60s and 70s.

It was very apparent that Ms. Douglas is a 'baby boomer'. Not being a 'baby boomer' was a bit of a hindrance in some chapters. She devotes a chapter to The Shirelles and other 60s girl groups where she argues that the girl group lyrics were empowering to young teenagers an the brink of the feminist movement, giving voice to their hopes and fears. In a later chapter she discusses Madonna's effect on music and the media. Interestingly, she neglects to mention The Go-Gos - the first commercially successful female rock group to play their own instruments.

In the last chapter or so, Ms. Douglas seems to lose her focus. She branches out to lash against the print media, particularly Glamour and Vogue. She states that anorexic models are not healthy role models for young girls. She also has a lengthy tirade about how men can't take care of infants at 2AM because they can't breastfeed. Formula has been around for quite some time, and breast pumps are available for women who work, or want their husbands to take care of an infant at 2AM.

Overall, it was a very good book and helped us recognize some of the messages television presents. But since the book was written in the early to mid 90s, we wondered what Ms. Douglas's thoughts would be on some current shows with female leads, such as Ally McBeal, Caroline in the City or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

3 stars out of 5

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