This book provides the readers with the most influential essays that have defined the field of American girls' history and culture. Girl-centered research is critical for a fuller understanding of women and gender, a deeper consideration of childhood and adolescence, and a greater acknowledgment of the significance of generation as a historical force in culture and society. Bringing together work from top scholars of women and youth, the book addresses topics ranging from diary writing and toys to prostitution and slavery. Covering girlhood and the relationships between girls and women, the volume tackles themes such as education, work, play, sexuality, consumption, and the body. The reader also illuminates broader nineteenth-century developments—including urbanization, industrialization, and immigration--through the often-overlooked vantage point of girls. As these essays collectively suggest, nineteenth-century girls wielded relatively little political or social power but carved out other spaces of self-expression.
This book integrates the role of gender in girls' and women's development across the life span, looking specifically at internal and external vulnerabilities and risks, and the protective or supportive factors that facilitate effective coping, positive growth, strength and resilience. The interaction between physical, psychological, and cultural factors is integrated within each period of development. The book emphasizes how gender socialization of female development and behavior impacts self-evaluation and identity processes within various cultural groups. The authors also discusses the social roles that girls and women reflectively adopt and describe how externally induced risks such as poverty, interpersonal abuse, and violence influence a healthy development.