Body Project:, The : An Intimate History of American Girls

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative...
Review: This book compares girls from the Victorian period through today on issues of menstruation, dating/sex, and puberty. Adolescence is a hard time now, and was a hard time then. This book includes tons of information about how things were and were viewed in the past (for example, pimples were viewed as a sign of impurity or pre-marital sexual relations). This book is a quick, easy, and fun read. I've recommended it to my Psychology of Women students.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative...
Review: This book compares girls from the Victorian period through today on issues of menstruation, dating/sex, and puberty. Adolescence is a hard time now, and was a hard time then. This book includes tons of information about how things were and were viewed in the past (for example, pimples were viewed as a sign of impurity or pre-marital sexual relations). This book is a quick, easy, and fun read. I've recommended it to my Psychology of Women students.

Rating:
Summary: Piqued my curiosity and gave great insight...
Review: This book is insightful and held my interest through out its entirity. It gives an honest picture of the commodity that girls have become over the last century, and shows that being aware is the first step towards a new begining. THE BODY PROJECT is extremely informative and easy to relate to one's own life.

Rating:
Summary: Okay
Review: This book is just okay. It tells mostly about menstrual attitudes of the past, but it is not very interesting or extensive.

Rating:
Summary: A Comprehensive History of Women's Self-Image through Time
Review: This book was amazing! It is easy to read and so informative. It covers women from the Victorian age up to modern time using case studies to show the changing views about their bodies. I reccomend this book to young girls, teens, and mothers. A wonderful work!

Rating:
Summary: History of our modern obsessions
Review: This book was an amazing journey that helped me understand the underpinnings of the modern American woman's relationship with sexuality. By tracing the roots of our modern traditions to their Victorian foundations, Brumberg educates the reader and also paints a stark picture of the way young girls have started to come into their sexuality in the past few decades. She argues that girls today are out of sync, that their bodies develop before they are emotionally ready to deal with issues of sexuality. She further asserts (and proves, in my opinion) that the historical move away from home-based economies and social structures has robbed modern girls of vital mentoring from their adult female relatives. This lack of female mentoring leads to the confusion and insecurity that anyone who watches MTV cannot deny is rampant today. This book is an important read for educators, parents, and anyone interested in unerstanging how (and why) young women today experience sexualization by a culture all too ready to exploit their insecurities for profit. All in all, a fascinating and very readable study of a crucial subject.

Rating:
Summary: History of our modern obsessions
Review: This book was an amazing journey that helped me understand the underpinnings of the modern American woman's relationship with sexuality. By tracing the roots of our modern traditions to their Victorian foundations, Brumberg educates the reader and also paints a stark picture of the way young girls have started to come into their sexuality in the past few decades. She argues that girls today are out of sync, that their bodies develop before they are emotionally ready to deal with issues of sexuality. She further asserts (and proves, in my opinion) that the historical move away from home-based economies and social structures has robbed modern girls of vital mentoring from their adult female relatives. This lack of female mentoring leads to the confusion and insecurity that anyone who watches MTV cannot deny is rampant today. This book is an important read for educators, parents, and anyone interested in unerstanging how (and why) young women today experience sexualization by a culture all too ready to exploit their insecurities for profit. All in all, a fascinating and very readable study of a crucial subject.

Rating:
Summary: A complex, accessible & contemorarily relevant history
Review: This is one of those all-too-rare precious books that makes a complex, carefully-researched historical argument accessible and contemporarily relevant. As a history professor at Rollins College, I used THE BODY PROJECT in my "Women in the Modern U.S." course in Spring of 1999. The book was a stunning success; it really hit home with our young women, far too many of whom, I discovered, are struggling with eating disorders, sexual pressures, and all kinds of insecurities about their appearance. Young men commented that reading and discussing the book was an eye-opening experience that helped them better understand and empathize with their female friends. Brumberg's historical analysis of girls' body issues and their roots is brilliant and useful. It opens up conversations that we really need to have--throughout society but perhaps on college campuses in particular. History instructors will be especially pleased at students' response to Brumberg's use of diaries as primary sources. Because students can relate to these sources--indeed, most have created such sources themselves--Brumberg's book helps them understand and appreciate historical methodology and historical actors. I especially value the elegance with which Brumberg upsets the progressive, "you've-come-a-long-way-baby" preconceptions about women's history. In the end, she makes us all think more critically about the fantastic and inspirational!...Interesting and more importantly HELPFUL in understanding why girls do certain things...Offers a unique perspective on women that people do not often hear...I was so captivated by the research she's done...Brumberg has compelling ideas and theories behind our society's socialization process. The issues that she addresses are quite relevant to concerns of many students on this campus."

Rating:
Summary: Another ' feminist' pushing her own agenda.
Review: Voyeuristic approach to female adolesence. Not even in the same league as 'Reviving Ophelia'. She draws grossly inadequate conclusions about sexuality based on quotes from Seventeen magazine! The title suggests it's all about body image; it's not. She leaps into her opinions about sexuality, loss of virginity, lesbianism, etc. and presents it as fact. Obviously has her agenda. Her sources of information are laughable. Historical information about undergarments; bras, sanitary pads, etc. is mildly interesting. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Looking at teeage girls diaries as a primary source
Review: What is fascinating about the Body Project is the author's use of teenage diaries from different eras. Almost all of us(girls) kept a diary at some point in our early years. The book inspired me to search for my own and look for my attitudes towards body changes, periods, bras and weight. It was a revelation and I suggest it as an exercise, especially to those of us with daughters. The book is excellent;well written and highly readable.