The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls: Amazon.co.uk: Joan Jacobs Brumberg: Books

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3.7 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unique coverage, second half descends into vaguery, 15 Mar 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (Paperback)

The Body Project gives us an insight into the ideologies and technologies which were poured into constructing the pubertal and post-pubertal girl during the last 100 years.

Brumberg begins by mapping historical ideas about girls, and acknowledges that puberty is beginning earlier and earlier. She explores Victorian concepts of - and the social structures around - "a girl's first period", and shows how this event was gradually medicalized and brought into the discourse of groups such as the Girl Scouts. She then moves on to examine the historical shift in attitudes toward acne and complexion, and the way that the beauty industry - aimed at whites and at the middle-class - manipulated this. In the second half of the book, she looks at the history of "training bras" alongside the increasing cult of the "slim figure". She then examines the current vogue for body-piercings. In the third section she looks at the "disappearance" of virginity as a social factor in the 90s, running through a history of the meaning of virginity and the 'sexual danger' of loosing it, from the 1880s to the current day.

Unfortunately, in the latter section she trots out statistics on "teens getting pregnant by older men" without examining these too deeply - if she had done further research here then she might have found the work which shows clearly the statistical conjouring trick these so-called figures represent. She goes on to talk of "girls today" as if they had no sexual desires and were just doing things to 'please their boyfriend'. This is surely insulting to girls' intelligence. In the last section Blumberg drifts away from history into somewhat hazy modern anecdote and what sounds moralising, and does so in a way which strongly reminds me of the "teen girls are just scatterbrains, can't be trusted with anything!" Aunt Jemima-style prejudice, dressed up in 1990s feminist 'concern'. However, Blumberg's book is a worthy read for the historical overview it provides.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Body Project reaches mainstream concerns about girls, 29 April 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (Paperback)

The Body Project reaches a mainstream society that is dealing with concerns facing our young women and our society. I was, however, upset that Brumberg chose to talk about the body without referring to some of the most well known theorists on the body, like Irigaray and Butler. I know that the book was meant for a mainstream audience, but I still think the opportunity to expose a wide variety of readers to such important theorists is a worthwhile undertaking. I was disappointed. I was also worried about some of the information... the sources for the piercing section of the book were very out dated. Being a member of the g/ l/ b community, I felt that the assumption Brumberg called on that said piercing was somehow related to homosexuality misleading. I am worried about Brumberg's approach, but I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read about the history behind the body projects we are currently undertaking as a society. Beyond that history (the second half of the book) I feel could be skipped.

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book for even the youngest of women., 16 Jul 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (Paperback)

I intended to read this book for its insites on body compulsion, but found the history of American Girls and their values and virtues very interesting. The text is easy to follow and directed for informing the reader while enjoying the history of grandmothers growing up. I am twenty years old and found I would've loved to have read this book even before puberty and I would also recommend it to the women of my family. Overall, the book is very informative, interesting and worth the reading.