About

Ever since the Spice Girls flashed us the peace sign and yelled “Girl Power!” what it means to be an adolescent or preadolescent girl has changed drastically.  We are flooded with news stories about thongs for little girls that say “Eye Candy” on them, ‘bar mitzvah blowjobs’ in affluent metropolitan suburbs, tweens prostituting themselves at the mall, and so on and so on.  At the same time, female accomplishment in various fields, but especially in terms of educational attainment, has surpassed that of male accomplishment.  This blog asks the question of why stories about lewd acts performed by young women are accompanied by stories about how our girls are surpassing our boys in many fields, and how this is possible.  Through looking at the popular culture consumed by tweens, ranging from books, magazines, and movies to toys, make-up, and clothing, we will look at how consumer culture is affecting young girls, and what the ramifications of that are.