The pornification of girlhood.(Society)(The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls )(Critical essay)

IN HER BOOK The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (1998), Joan Jacobs Brumberg examines the diaries of girls from the 1800s to the present. Extracts from two journals illustrate the significant shifts in the way girls see themselves and what they consider important. In 1882 a girl wrote:

 
   Resolved, not to talk about myself or 
   feelings. To think before speaking. To 
   work seriously. To be self restrained in 
   conversation and actions. Not to let my thoughts 
   wander. To be dignified. Interest myself more in 
   others. 

A century later, another girl writes in her diary:

 
   I will try to make myself better in any way I 
   possibly can with the help of my budget and babysitting 
   money. I will lose weight, get new lenses, 
   already got new hair cut, good makeup, new clothes 
   and accessories. 

The adolescent female body is, observes Brumberg, a "template for much of the social change of the twentieth century".

I am not lauding the 1800s as a paradise for women. Nor do I think any girl should be silent about herself or her feelings. What is disturbing, however, are the constraints under which girls struggle to develop and flourish today. Many girls now seem to value their physical appearance more highly than personal achievement. They've been led to believe their bodies are the most valuable thing that they have to offer the world. How has it come to this?

Trends in popular culture, the insidious creep of the cult of bodily perfection, the dominance of fad diets, billboards and magazines depicting flawless female forms, all play a part. Then there's the commercial interests of companies marketing the promise of success in life through the bowling-ball breasts preferred by readers of Zoo.