Girl Culture - Hardcover

Greenfield, Lauren

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1452159289 ISBN 13: 9781452159287

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 2016

Synopsis

A new edition of Lauren Greenfield's 2002 book GIRL CULTURE, a photo essay about what it's like to be a girl in a consumerist, celebrity-obsessed culture. The book includes 100+ photos and 18 interviews with girls of all ages, covering topics from eating disorders to spring break. This new edition features exactly the same content as the original, bringing a classic from our backlist back into print.

About this title

Review

American girlhood ain't what it used to be. Maybe there are pockets of girls out there who still revel in the Little House on the Prairie books or dress up their dolls or run lemonade stands. But they aren't catching the eyes of sociologists, who seem to agree that girls today are growing up in a hyper-sexualized peer pressure-cooker and they don't show up in Girl Culture, a new book from photographer Lauren Greenfield (Chronicle Books; $40.00). Even the youngest girls in Greenfield's gritty, gorgeous portraits are far too busy dressing up like Barbie dolls to play with them.
A gentle warning: this is not a book for parents desperate to maintain their naivete about what's happening in their daughters' lives: these accounts show you more than you've ever imagined about the sexual and social habits of girls. Greenfield's photographs are accompanied by narratives from the girls themselves; the stories they tell, which are unflinchingly raw and honest, are often difficult to read. No matter how well you think you understand what goes on in adolescent life, it can be shocking to read first-hand accounts of the jealousy, pettiness, meanness and general anxiety that characterize female adolescence.
The girls in this book range in age from pre-school to post-grad. And Greenfield makes good use of the insecurities of each age, zeroing in on the shame of an 11-year-old at fat camp, emphasizing the anxiety of an up-and-coming actress standing outside her trailer, highlighting the terrible uncertainty of a teenage girl who is banished, by virtue of her rounded face and curly dark hair, from the blonde, slim world of the popular girls.
While it will come as no surprise to learn that beauty and appearance feature prominently the minds of most girls, Greenfield's portraits reveal the force with which the need to be desired, even objectified, in a very adult way is expressed, as well as the unexpected ambivalence with which that objectification, once achieved, once achieved, is met. --Time.com

'Coupled with her some of subjects unflinching reflections on what it means to be a woman, Greenfield's insights into American girl culture are shocking, at times unsettling and bleak, and they ve lost none of their force today. The book was first published before the widespread birth of the internet, and is an example of the potential women have for using their image to express their own agency and truth. 16 years on, the trends may have changed, but many women are now following Greenfield's lead in creating the world they believe needs to be exposed.' --AnOthermag.com

"This book is an utterly vital time capsule, and in fact all her work confirms her as - for me - one of the most important documentary photographers working today. (5 stars)" --Amateur Photographer

From the Author

Lauren Greenfield is an internationally acclaimed photographer and documentary filmmaker. Her photographs, including the monographs Girl Culture, Fast Forward, and THIN, have been widely published, exhibited and collected by leading museums around the world. She is also the director of the award-winning films THIN, kids + money, Beauty CULTure and The Queen of Versailles. Her most recent projects include the viral hit #likeagirl and Generation Wealth. She lives in Venice, California. Joan Jacobs Brumberg is a professor at Cornell University, where she has been teaching history, human development, and women’s studies for over twenty years. She is the author of The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls. She lives in Ithaca, New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1452159289
• ISBN 13: 9781452159287
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 156