Girls, Media, and the Negotiation of Sexuality: A Study of Race, Class, and Gender in Adolescent Peer Groups

Abstract

This study examines how peer group activity and social context affect adolescent girls' interactions with mass media.1 The study consisted of a five-month field observation of middle-school girls from varying race and class backgrounds. The data analysis showed that the peer context was one in which gender identity was consolidated via reference to mediated standards of femininity and sexuality, though these standards differed according to race and class factors. It is concluded that the peer group is of crucial significance: interventions such as media literacy efforts cannot be effective unless they are sensitive to peer group functioning around issues of race, class, and culture.

What do people do with porn? Qualitative research into the comsumption, use, and experience of pornography and other sexually explicit media

“…Steele (1999), for example, considers young people's use of the media in the development of self-identity, and employs interviews, focus group discussions, tours of teenagers' bedrooms, and journals. Durham (1999) and Kehily (1999) adopt a similar theoretical approach, which focuses on "the active role of audiences in making sense of the media," the ways in which identity is negotiated within interpersonal relations, and a practical orientation that exploits "the potential of qualitative methods for gaining access to these processes of interpretation and identity formation" (Bragg & Buckingham, 2002: 50). What these studies appear to establish is that young people select media texts that relate to their preoccupations and are able to interpret them critically.…”

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“…Having friends becomes central to being visible, to having an identity (Eder 1985) in school. Adolescence brings with it peer pressure to conform to more rigid gender expectations, and social stratification in schools increasingly rests on gender performance (Carr 1998, Durham 2002, Eckert 1994, Shakib 2003. As girls move into high school, less social status is available through individual achievements, and the achievements of girls who are not popular are often ignored by peers (Eder 1985).…”

A Boyfriend to Die For: Edward Cullen as Compensated Psychopath in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight

“…To ignore that power puts our culture under Edward's spell. A substantial body of research demonstrates the power of media to influence girls' and women's body image, self-esteem, and sexual identity (Carpenter, 1998;Currie, 1997;Durham, 2002;Kearney, 2006;Merskin, 2004;Strasburger, 2005). Furthermore, girls have a special relationship with books (Blackford, 2004;Cherland, 1994).…”