Thursday, August 30, 2012

"Girls" according to Google


            The google search of “girls” shows an interesting range of ideas and images associated with the term “girl” in our society today. Links associated with “little girls” of elementary and middle school age and their interests can also be found in the same search results as links to a recently popular television show depicting the lives of “girls” in their 20’s living in New York. Even more shocking is the inclusion of links to sites for the “World’s Sexiest Girls” and maxim.com. These very differing results and their implications of the term “girl” show how broad its definition is and how it can be interpreted in different ways.
            It seems to me that society puts pressure on boys to become men and leave their childhood behind, but for girls it’s acceptable to be in your 20s or older and still be referred to/refer to yourself as a girl. As mentioned in other posts, when a google search of “boys” is performed, almost all of the results are related to the definition of a boy as a young male who has not yet reached the age of puberty. Girlhood seems to be viewed as a period of life with a very flexible time span. There is no rush to transition from “girl” to “woman” in the fear of being viewed as less feminine. Boyhood, on the other hand, seems to be a period of life reserved to young males who have not yet developed the physical and mental qualities necessary to be considered truly masculine.        

Girls on Google - Related Searches and Images


 One of the features of google that I always find to be particularly revealing is the “did you mean…?” and the “searches related to…” suggestions that appear at the top and bottom (respectively) of a search results page. In a search for “girls,” there was no “did you mean.”  The related searches, however, were listed and quite intriguing. The first on the list was “girls body parts” followed by “girls in yoga pants.” Both of these options head straight for objectification. It would seem that people are more likely to search for parts of girls than for anything to do with actual young female human beings. This reference to bodies, as well as the apparent desire of the population to observe those body parts in skin tight exercise pants, indicates the use of “girl” is often in the place of “young (sexualized) woman.” I was curious if this same thing happens with boys (which I was fairly sure it doesn’t, but the concept of the “boy band” certainly complicates that division), so I did another google search.

My search for “boys” had neither a “did you mean…?” nor a “searches related to…” and prompted only half as many total results as the one for “girls.” Overall, this may indicate that boys are less on the minds of Americans. This reduced number of results for “boy” would also make sense, given that “boy” has a more restrictive definition than “girl,” as it generally only includes males not yet sexually mature. This is supported by a glance at the google image search results. While both have adult-themed photos, with sexualized subjects, the female results are almost entirely of this nature, while at least half of the “boy” image results depict actual male children. Actual female children aren’t present on the “girls” image results until page 2 (as opposed to the first image on the “boys” results). So girls and boys, while at first appear to be terms referring to the same age demographic, but different genders, are actually qualitatively different cultural groups, at least regarding the connotations of the words. 

This is something that is going to be relevant throughout this course. When we read a novel written for a young age group, to what extent might that experience be different for girls and boys given their separate places in society’s mindset? How might this affect an authors’ depiction of male versus female characters? Or an author’s intended reception by girl and boy readers? As we discussed in class today, even the psychological theories on childhood and maturation both affect and are affected by these words and their meanings within our worlds. Hopefully this we might untangle this a little over the semester, but I’m expecting it to just get more complicated.
Jumping a bit ahead in the semester to our section about the media influence on children and Disney's near monopoly in the field, here is something I saw tonight that concerns me greatly:
Disney Characters Get The 'Thinspo' Treatment and are scarily slimmed down for Barney's in a 3-D short film featuring Disney characters 'as supermodels'.
 
There is already negative buzz on www.huffingtonpost.com, among other sites.
Let's get involved! If you don't think this is sending the right message to children, contact Disney and let them know that eating disorders and body image are serious issues. The message--that their favorite characters would require drastically slimming makeovers to model--is not a healthy one for kids. http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/contact-us

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

What happened to girlhood?


The google search results for “Girl” reflect the diverse use of the word girl, girls, and girlhood. The top three results for "girls" were related to a television series titled Girls. Girls is about a group of twenty-something females living in New York City. The next set of links are websites advertising “The World’s Hottest Girls and Sexy Women.” Maxim and Myspace are included in the results. Finally, the last link for Google search is for Girl, Inc, a website meant to empower girls. The results for “girlhood” were similar, including links to a documentary and books about girls and modern day girlhood. The documentary, Girlhood,  is about girls in Baltimore that commit serious crimes and do drugs at a very young age. The girls in the documentary are well into their high school years. Is this what society expect all girls doing through girlhood experience? When does a female stop being a girl?
These results make “girls” and “girlhood” similar to the “girls” in Girls Gone Wild. Girls are no longer prepubescent girls who enjoy playing with toys and reading. Girls and girlhood become spectacles for entertainment only. Society must expect all girls to be sexy and illicit at all ages. The word “girls” is not targeted or limited to a certain age group. This can detract from the specialness of girlhood. Special attention is paid to childhood today, but these results transform the innocence of girls and girlhood. 
  In comparison, the google results for “boys” and “boyhood” focus on boys in puberty and Boy Scouts (nonetheless including inappropriate YouTube videos at the bottom of the results). A discrepancy exists between what the virtual world depicts “girls” as and what girls are really like during their girlhood. 




















"Girls Go Games"

First, upon typing "girls" into Google, I was not at all surprised to find many sources to learn more about Lena Dunham's hit HBO show Girls. It's just another reminder that I need to start watching it. Scrolling down, I see promotions for a band named Girls, for silly internet games aimed toward girls, and (I must have Google's location feature turned on) for the Columbus School for Girls.

Since I feel the TV show, band, and school probably won't show me much about how "girls" are perceived in the virtual world, I give www.girlsgogames.com a shot.

Well, the site is definitely what society would call "girly." Big letters spell out "Girls Go Games: Free Online Games for Girls" near the top of the page, while cartoon characters, probably meant to represent preteens, adorn the site, all big eyes and shiny jewelry. There are dozens of little squares, each one a link to a different game. Glancing at the titles, I see "Princess Hairstyle," "Girls Go Fashion Party," "Pony Adventure," and even "Justin Bieber Date." As I explore the site, the term "game" seems to be a stretch. I can't seem to find any need for skill or strategy. Most of the games involve dressing up the aforementioned characters (Gabriella, Gwen, and Grace) in new outfits, giving them new hairstyles, or designing and painting their nails.

Though current-me is somewhat offended that the marketing team behind this site so blatantly groups girls into such a broad, stereotypical category, I know that 11-year-old me would love every one of these games. But that was 11-year-old me. Had you asked my sister, when she was that young, to sit down and play any one of the Girls Go Games, she would've scowled and returned outside to catch frogs by the creek.

Based on the very specific source I chose to study, girlhood (in this case, let's say ages 7 to 12) seems to be an amalgamation of all things frilly, sparkly, and pink. Little girls are thought to be aspiring princesses, each one excited to grow up and do "glamorous" things like wear makeup and dress up for fancy parties. While this, the GGG message, is a big generalization, it does apply to many little girls. So, if that is the case, is it necessarily wrong or offensive? It's impossible to appeal to every person in a given demographic, so it makes sense to, at the least, appeal to the largest subset. While I may not agree with everything Girls Go Games markets, I at least understand the motivation behind it.

1) HBO drama series, 2) juvenile detention documentary


I find it strange that when you type "girls" and then "girlhood" into Google, the top results for both are representations of these words in the media (a TV show for one, a documentary for the other).
(Documentaries are arguably less driven by media assumptions/institutions, because the point of a documentary is to uncover the daily life of a world less explored by the general public. However, I feel that documentaries are very controlled, closed-off environments, and so while they may be interesting and accurately represent their subject matter, they are often not wholly relatable to a wide range people and their experiences.) In this case, the documentary Girlhood is about female inmates in a juvenile detention center, which may be relatable to some, but I'm not entirely pleased that the documentary is the first source that comes up when searching for the term.

I hesitate in saying that the film (especially because I have not seen it, but simply going off of a superficial glance at the google page) is not an accurate representation of "girlhood," but I feel that girlhood should be more of a broad term, like a term for a girl's childhood? No, maybe its range is wider than that, to the essence of a girl and her connections to being female. As I write this response, I think of themes like the struggles of a girl to become her own person. A girl's struggle to grapple with this term "female" and make sense of it herself. (I feel that this same definition or overarching struggle applies for boys and the term "boyhood" or "manhood.")

However, here I go back and look at the synopsis of Girlhood the documentary, and I find it is about much more than the American Justice System and their treatment of young girls who have committed serious crimes. While that is the premise of tagline ("Documentary chronicling America's justice system. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center"), the story appears to be inherently about the girls, not their stories of jailtime. The documentary follows these two girls and their difference in attitude to their crimes and their motivations (one is truly motivated to turn her life around, while the other attempts to get off on her charms instead of taking the program seriously).

At first glance, I don't appreciate the media-dominated assumptions of girls' lives ("girls" being an HBO drama about 20-somethings and #whitegirlproblems, and "girlhood" being a documentary reviewing a darker, less-publicized side of adolescent life) as projected by Google results. I would much rather see more "real" stories from "real" girls discussing how to overcome their fears of social anxiety, insecurities, I don't know, and other important (Important, in that it shouldn't be ignored! Common, in that every girl has felt this way! Significant, in that it should be discussed, not shamed, and most importantly,  overcome!) worries that girls face. However, to be fair, upon further investigation of Girls and Girlhood, I see that their intentions are admirable (especially in the case of Girlhood, I feel, because the HBO drama gives more of an "entertainment" feel) in the depictions of "young" girls and their struggles with their inner demons. Essentially, that's what I feel the process of "girlhood" is.*

*Though thinking about it now, girlhood is also a shared feeling/quality among women!! There are lots of layers to this word - as a process, as a quality, as a label or a stage in life - and the discussions could go on forever.

"Girls" Google Results

When I typed the word "girls" into the google search bar, I ended up with several links related to the HBO show "Girls" created by Lena Dunham. What struck me the most about this was the fact that the characters on the show are in their mid-twenties, out of college and attempting to achieve independence. This made me think of the section in the Shavit article that discussed the concept of childhood in the Middle Ages, when people were married very early in life in comparison to today, and and the primary expectation for children was to enter adulthood as quickly as possible and contribute to society. It seems that what we consider to be "childhood" has extended past our teenage years and well into our twenties. The characters on "Girls" still struggle to be financially independent, have a strong sense of entitlement, have trouble navigating the dating world, and in many ways seem stuck in adolescence. These characters, while fictional, seem to be extremely reflective of real life. As I prepare to graduate this year, I have little sense of what I will be doing next year and am nowhere close to being financially independent.
When I scrolled down further I noticed several other instances of the word "girls" being used to describe groups that would legally be defined as adults: several of "the world's hottest girls" were in their twenties. I also saw many links for baby names. It seems as though the word "girl" can be applied to an extremely wide age range, within which many stages of development occur. I found it interesting that we use "girls" as an umbrella term for babies, children, teens, and even adults. Judging from my google results, the borders of "girlhood" are extremely unclear.