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aebaranello's review against another edition
informative
3.0
Same vibes as my high school students that raise their hand and go, "I'm gonna play devil's advocate..."
sullapelle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
parksystems's review against another edition
4.0
This is a provisional rating. I may get around to revising it upon a second read some day.
There are a lot of problems with this book, things that say "Not to be racist but...." then scan the room for POC before saying something CRAZY racist. There are interesting ideas within the mix though, really insightful assessments, but the whole "this isn't to say young girls are 'young girls'" thing does not clear the responsibility. As someone who was formerly a young girl- one very much weighed down and at points very very aware of my demographic's intensely manipulative branding & usage- this says some things that really struck me deeply, big A HAs or OH YES, but then always overall managed to be extremely alienating, generalizing, leaving the reality of the young girl debased and demeaned, irretrievable and impersonal.
I would love to see a revised edition that claimed some responsibility for this and resolved the problems, because there are- i repeat- some very profound thoughts in here.
There are a lot of problems with this book, things that say "Not to be racist but...." then scan the room for POC before saying something CRAZY racist. There are interesting ideas within the mix though, really insightful assessments, but the whole "this isn't to say young girls are 'young girls'" thing does not clear the responsibility. As someone who was formerly a young girl- one very much weighed down and at points very very aware of my demographic's intensely manipulative branding & usage- this says some things that really struck me deeply, big A HAs or OH YES, but then always overall managed to be extremely alienating, generalizing, leaving the reality of the young girl debased and demeaned, irretrievable and impersonal.
I would love to see a revised edition that claimed some responsibility for this and resolved the problems, because there are- i repeat- some very profound thoughts in here.
riotgurl420's review against another edition
2.0
The concept and theory of the book is fascinating, but I found myself enjoying talking about the ideas the book tries to prove than actually reading it. Slightly obtuse formatting and style, so it's not an easy one to just sit down and read straight through. Would be great to flip through for inspiration.
meera_'s review against another edition
3.0
Everything is funny, nothing's a big deal. Everything is cool, nothing is serious. (38)
2 stars off bc I didn't feel like i learned anything new, but that could be because i am an Online Girl reading all the discourse surrounding bows and whatnot
and just being a Girl and hearing all of these things. to b a Young-Girl is to perform
the issue with the whole bow thing is that while the bow-wearing girls claim to be "having fun," many aren't finding the balance between having fun and recognizing what a bow can represent in terms of femininity. there isn't enough reclaiming happening!
2 stars off bc I didn't feel like i learned anything new, but that could be because i am an Online Girl reading all the discourse surrounding bows and whatnot
and just being a Girl and hearing all of these things. to b a Young-Girl is to perform
the issue with the whole bow thing is that while the bow-wearing girls claim to be "having fun," many aren't finding the balance between having fun and recognizing what a bow can represent in terms of femininity. there isn't enough reclaiming happening!
margarete's review against another edition
5.0
wow!!!
i liked the aphoristic approach and the concept of trash theory, which is implemented well. fascinated by the framework; it provides such an interesting analysis of the denigration of femininity/femininess. would love to see this contrasted with Rookie-style teen girlbossery, or even with the It Girl a la NY Mag's Yesteryear issue.
grappling with identification in the Young-Girl: agent of Spectacle, willing or unwilling, cognizant or not.
"She is a body without soul dreaming she's a soul without a body." compared with Lispector: "And she was so body that she was pure spirit."
girl as void
i liked the aphoristic approach and the concept of trash theory, which is implemented well. fascinated by the framework; it provides such an interesting analysis of the denigration of femininity/femininess. would love to see this contrasted with Rookie-style teen girlbossery, or even with the It Girl a la NY Mag's Yesteryear issue.
grappling with identification in the Young-Girl: agent of Spectacle, willing or unwilling, cognizant or not.
"She is a body without soul dreaming she's a soul without a body." compared with Lispector: "And she was so body that she was pure spirit."
girl as void
not_ya_p's review against another edition
- I don’t think I’m smart enough for the French and that’s ok
- I do think anyone calling it misogyny missed the entire point
- thinking about this book a lot in 2023
- it’s giving “girl dinner”
- It’s giving girlhood is a spectrum and that spectrum is “wounded baby animal <—-> all the worst parts of her father”
- I do think anyone calling it misogyny missed the entire point
- thinking about this book a lot in 2023
- it’s giving “girl dinner”
- It’s giving girlhood is a spectrum and that spectrum is “wounded baby animal <—-> all the worst parts of her father”