Rating: 
Summary: Pure genius
Review: Although I usually read fiction, this is the best book I have ever read. I've never before been able to call a non-fiction book a page-turner. I read it it 2 days- I couldn't put it down, and have told everyone I know to read it. Growing up in the 80's, I was not aware of many of the TV shows or movies she mentions, but thanks to Ms. Douglas' witty style, the overall effect was no lost. It shows just why we are the way we are, and you'll never watch TV the same way again.
Rating:
Summary: Exposing the contradictory roles women expect to play
Review: And then we wonder why we're not happy. . . . Ms. Douglas really made me think about how I thought about being a girl, and being a woman, and why I objected to being pigeonholed in either category. A truly thought-provoking book, especially for people who grew up on the reruns.
Rating:
Summary: A look at the mass media's better half
Review: Anyone claiming the mass media has no impact in shaping our lives has their head
in the sand. Nothing, beyond the influence of parents and siblings, determines our
perceptions of society to a greater degree than the media. This is especially true of the
baby boom generation who were the first generation to be mass marked to in grand
fashion. Studies of the mass media are numerous but little focuses on how mass media
shaped and reflected the lives of women baby boomers. According to Susan J. Douglas
in her book, Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, women are
"cultural schizophrenics" having been constantly pulled in opposite directions. Images
conflict between that of the Enjoli women who can "bring home the bacon and fry it up in
the pan", juxtaposed to the June Cleaver, stay-at-home-mom who is immaculate in looks as
well as housekeeping prowess. Douglas also discusses how feminine baby boom culture
like girl groups of the Rock n' Roll era are often dismissed as frivolous, but in reality, are
culturally significant to understanding how the women's movement took shape. Douglas
contends the mass media has played a duo role in the modern woman's movement by
making feminism inevitable and a corresponding role in making it a dirty word. Douglas, a professor of Media Studies and herself a member of the post-war baby
boom. She participated in many of the events discussed and offers her own opinions and
insights to lend the book a dash of drama. Chapters oscillate between those surveying
popular entertainment from the female perspective, others critique the media's coverage
and manipulation of the woman's movement. Her critique begins with the 1950s backlash
against the wartime "Rosie the Riveter" image in full swing. With World War II won, it
was time, the powers that be decided, for women to reassume their place as homemakers. The message was put forth unambiguously to adults and young girls alike in all forms of
media from advertising to popular entertainment. Those not fully committed to home and
husband were miserable, especially those who dared work outside the home. Young girls
could be tomboys to a point, but once womanhood set in they had better concern
themselves with attracting boys. By catering specifically to young girls, Douglas suggests
that despite images reflecting traditional roles for girls, there was an ulterior message: these
girls were made to feel important and worthy of considerable attention. The sexual revolution1960s coincided with the churning adolescent hormones of
the baby boomers. Douglas suggests that girl groups like the Shirells were significant
because explored taboo topics such as sexuality. For example, the song "Will You Love
Me Tomorrow" was about a girl trying to decide if she should "go all the way". Girls
listening to this were inevitably thinking, "Will she or wont she," and ultimately, "Will I or
wont I". Later in the decade, female singers such as Joan Baez and Mary Travers offered
alternatives to conventional womanhood. Douglas puts forth evidence that women's roles
were undergoing change. Jacquline Kennedy emerged as an heroine because she proved
a woman need not fit into a either/or role but could have many dimensions. At the same
time she was a mother, Jackie was glamorous, well educated and often got more attention
than her husband. Douglas points out that when Jackie's shoe size was reported to be 10A
rather than the puny Cinderella size most would assume her to have. Many women for the
first time were comfortable with the size of there feet. Douglas's analysis of the 1970's is the most engaging part of the book which depict
the emergence of the women's movement as a political force. The Women's Strike for
Equality and the passage of the ERA, both occurring in 1970, marked the watershed of
the modern women's movement. Douglas contends the media was confused as to what to
make of the movement but ultimately the tone was a mixture of "amused condescention
with outright hostility". Over time, the media employed tactics that used "refined"
domesticated women to denounce defiant "bra burners." Most demonstrations would most be ignored while news organizations would instead go to nearby supermarkets and talk to
women in the parking lot what they thought of their militant sisters. Inevitably these
women would suggest the grievances of these women extreme and that they were by and
large happy with their roles as homemakers. Douglas often refers to the media's tendancies
to portray the fight for woman's equality in terms of a catfight between traditional roles and
the modern emancipated woman. Ms. Douglas even participates in some catfighting when
she mentions Camille Paglia and her controversial views on women's equality. Without
even giving any substantial criticism she dismisses Paglia as egotistical and trashes her "two
books that don't make a lick of sense." Douglas adds to her evidence of the media playing
up catfights, the most significant of recent years being Barbra Bush and Hillary Clinton. Douglas does give some credit to the media for furthering the feminist agenda and sites
instances where moderate reforms such as equal-pay-for-equal-work and the right to
legalized abortion, were given sympathetic coverage in the media and adopted by the
mainstream. These issues, however, concerned women in the public sphere. In the
domestic sphere the establishment was a steadfast to tradition never giving positive
coverage to feminist critiques of marriage and family.
Popular entertainment of the 70's became a forum for debate as to what type of
feminism would become accepted as mainstream. The two programs she examines in detail are Maud and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Maude was presented as forbidding and
reinforced the stereotypical feminist as boisterous and unfeminine while Mary Tyler Moore
explored themes such how assertive should the new woman be. Douglas points out how
The Mary Tyler Moore show showed a woman becoming more assertive and independent
as the decade progressed. Douglas explains how Charlie's Angels and Police Woman were
the most misogynistic shows of the decade that resented the backlash to feminist ideals. Douglas concludes her discussion failing to bring to light some noteworthy and positive
portrayals of women on 70's television. One such program was Alice. Alice, portrayed by
Linda Lavin was a widow who raised her son while working in a diner. Another waitress
at the diner was the brassy and charismatic Flo who dominated men and was not hesitant to
tell any man, even the boss, to "kiss her grits". She also overlooked a fascinating portrayal
of women's new found sexual freedom in the television character Julie McCoy, Cruise
Director on The Love Boat. Here was a woman who was single, had a glamorous and
interesting job sailing to exotic parts of the world while having occasional affairs which
were not implied but brazenly obvious. She also exemplified women's newly found sexual
freedom by having occasional affairs which were not implied by blazenly obvious.
The book concludes with a discussion of the 1980s and early 1990s where woman's
"cultural schizophrenia" is full blown and on display. One one hand there is the ideal
feminist exemplified by Murphy Brown. On the other hand, there is the "beauty myth"
mentality that feeds women images suggesting the need to be the perfect homemaker,
mother as well as the committed career woman. The situation is such that there are
numerous women who reject feminisms ideological baggage but at the same time embrace
much of what feminism has made possible. Or as Douglas adroitly puts it, "The feminist
movement made many women miserable yet made us happy by opening opportunities we
treasured and would never give up." All in all, this is a most interesting provocative read.
Regardless of
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful! Brings it all back.
Review: Anyone who grew up on 50s and 60s TV needs this book. Susan Douglas finds feminism in some very unexpected places. A ton of research went into this funny, energetic, fact-filled book. A classic!
Rating: 
Summary: After all, somebody needed to ask after the girls.
Review: Despite comedian Dennis Miller's obsession with the two Darrins on the TV show "Bewitched," who knew that that show had any particular cultural merit? Douglas argues otherwise in her feminist critique/retrospective of the media in the 1960s and 70s. According to Douglas, "Bewitched" was surprisingly proto-feminist in its ability to feature an all-powerful woman who operated covertly behind the conventional suburbian wife/mother role. Samantha Stevens in fact was so powerful, Douglas argues, that her husband could change in mid-series without making any difference at all. Such are the examples that can be found in this text. While Douglas focuses on a particular age demographic as her audience--women in their late thirties will definitely identify her cultural artifacts--I was pleasantly surprised that her feminist critique of popular culture didn't deteriorate into the typical "postfeminism" a la Ally McBeal. Douglas stays on target when deconstructing the pop influences that made the girls of twenty years ago the women of today.
Rating:
Summary: I'm a guy and I thought this book was awesome
Review: Douglas does a great job of telling it like it is. She dosn't make any "wild feminist" claims, but does show the effects the media has had an women in the second half of this century. The book is also very funny and entertaining. I probably would not have picked the book up if a teacher didn't require it for a class, but now I'm glad I read it.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for every woman
Review: I am 18 years old, and still I felt as though the topics Susan addresses in her book are a huge part of my life. Above my desk I have pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn taped up next to a poster of a fifties housewife with the caption "Don't assume I cook." My dog's name is Gidget and the mouse pad next to my computer is of Rosie the Riveter. Whew!! The media shapes and distorts us all. After reading this wonderful book I realized that my monthly internal arguement whether or not I should by the latest issue of Cosmopolitian is completely natural..And that it's ok to buy it every once and awhile. By doing so I am not undermining my beliefs that women and men should be equal or that the education and freedom of women needs to be a goal for us all. Ok that's enough. Buy the book, and then share it with a friend. This one is bound to be a classic.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read for those interested in Media and Women
Review: I borrowed this book from my sister who was reading it for school. I found it incredibly interesting. The book traces the history of women and how the media has portrayed them. Although it is used in feminism and media classes, it reads nothing like a textbook. Although it is nonfiction, it is a quick, informative, entertaining, and engaging read. I highly reccomend it.
Rating:
Summary: 20th Century History of Pop Culture and Feminism
Review: I first read this book in my Communication theory class in undergraduate school. It was a great read for all sorts of wonderful historical aspects regarding the development of the women's movement and how pop culture ebbed and flowed along the way. Susan Douglas is a gifted writer. She knows how to keep things simple, yet has all sorts of wit and vigor. This book should be on a list of "favorite quotables." Douglas does some great reliving of her own stories as well as discussing the main themes in television and movies from the immediate post WWII propaganda that forced women out of the workplace and back into the kitchen all the way up to Murphy Brown. In the end, Douglas ponders what effects the media will have on her daughter's life. It's easy. It's fun.
Rating: 
Summary: A huge waste of time
Review: I had to read this book for a history class at Yale, and I honestly can't believe that a professor would force this book on anyone! It was a simple series of complaints about the presentation of women in the media (some of her complaints are valid, but a lot of time it just seems that she's being overly sensitive). I also found her writing style to be somewhat offensive. It's one of the worst books I've ever had to read for any of the classes I've taken.
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