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Girl Trouble: Panic and Progress in the History of Young Women
'A brilliant cultural history.'
Irish Examiner
Girls behave badly. If they're not obscenity-shouting, pint-swigging ladettes, they're narcissistic, living dolls floating around in a cloud of self-obsession, far too busy twerking to care. And this is news.
In this witty and wonderful book, Carol Dyhouse shows that where there's a social scandal or a wave of moral outrage, you can bet a girl is to blame. Whether it be stories of 'brazen flappers' staying out and up all night in the 1920s, inappropriate places for Mars bars in the 1960s or Courtney Love's mere existence in the 1990s, bad girls have been a mass-media staple for more than a century. And yet, despite the continued obsession with their perceived faults and blatant disobedience, girls are infinitely better off today than they were a century ago.
This is the story of the challenges and opportunities faced by young women growing up in the swirl of the twentieth century, and the pop-hysteria that continues to accompany their progress.
Irish Examiner
Girls behave badly. If they're not obscenity-shouting, pint-swigging ladettes, they're narcissistic, living dolls floating around in a cloud of self-obsession, far too busy twerking to care. And this is news.
In this witty and wonderful book, Carol Dyhouse shows that where there's a social scandal or a wave of moral outrage, you can bet a girl is to blame. Whether it be stories of 'brazen flappers' staying out and up all night in the 1920s, inappropriate places for Mars bars in the 1960s or Courtney Love's mere existence in the 1990s, bad girls have been a mass-media staple for more than a century. And yet, despite the continued obsession with their perceived faults and blatant disobedience, girls are infinitely better off today than they were a century ago.
This is the story of the challenges and opportunities faced by young women growing up in the swirl of the twentieth century, and the pop-hysteria that continues to accompany their progress.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
21 people are currently reading
1657 people want to read
About the author
Carol Dyhouse
11 books69 followersCarol Dyhouse is a social historian. Her research has focused on gender, education and the pattern of women's lives in nineteenth and twentieth century Britain. Her books include Girls Growing Up in late Victorian and Edwardian England (1981); Feminism and the Family in England, 1890-1939, (1989); No Distinction of Sex? Women in British Universities (1995); and Students: A Gendered History (2006). An interest in clothing and material culture, and the ways in which these relate to changing ideas about femininity, led to work on the subject of glamour, its controversial status within feminism, and its meanings to women in history. Carol Dyhouse is currently a Research Professor in History at the University of Sussex.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
August 21, 2016
A well researched yet brief overview of Britain's (although heavily weighted towards England) social perceptions of women since the Victorian period. This is an engaging, interesting read and a lot of effort has clearly gone into challenging stereotypes about women.
It could've been less descriptive and more thought-provoking/critical but it didn't quite take that leap. It also didn't pay much attention to how events like the 1960s America civil rights movement or the Irish 'Troubles' affected Britain's feminist movement which I think could have made an interesting approach if done in Dyhouse's style. If anyone can recommend any feminist history that does focus on the reaction and changes to women as a consequence of political events like that then please do so as I'm quite curious about it!
This book was also quite restricted in that it mainly focused on what mainstream English media had to say about women which meant it didn't give much of a voice at all to women belonging to minority groups e.g. migrant women, gay women, women belonging to ethnic minorities, etc. This seems like a big oversight but considering the intersectionalist approach many 21st century British feminists have nowadays it could just be yet another marker of how feminism has changed since the book's been published to be more inclusive.
On a similar note, it was also irritating that Britain was taken as a whole with no regard to regional differences between feminist movements and female stereotyping. A few times when reading I found myself wondering (as a woman from North East England) how this applied regionally and how different the book would read if this was taken into account.
Still, 'Girl Trouble' was a good introductory read into feminist history and its broad sweep from the Victorians to the early 2000's put the continuities and changes of how women have been stereotyped and represented in the media in an interesting light. Dyhouse also included many references to other feminist works throughout this period and often compared them which acts as a helpful guide for what to read next and the context in which different works were written.
It could've been less descriptive and more thought-provoking/critical but it didn't quite take that leap. It also didn't pay much attention to how events like the 1960s America civil rights movement or the Irish 'Troubles' affected Britain's feminist movement which I think could have made an interesting approach if done in Dyhouse's style. If anyone can recommend any feminist history that does focus on the reaction and changes to women as a consequence of political events like that then please do so as I'm quite curious about it!
This book was also quite restricted in that it mainly focused on what mainstream English media had to say about women which meant it didn't give much of a voice at all to women belonging to minority groups e.g. migrant women, gay women, women belonging to ethnic minorities, etc. This seems like a big oversight but considering the intersectionalist approach many 21st century British feminists have nowadays it could just be yet another marker of how feminism has changed since the book's been published to be more inclusive.
On a similar note, it was also irritating that Britain was taken as a whole with no regard to regional differences between feminist movements and female stereotyping. A few times when reading I found myself wondering (as a woman from North East England) how this applied regionally and how different the book would read if this was taken into account.
Still, 'Girl Trouble' was a good introductory read into feminist history and its broad sweep from the Victorians to the early 2000's put the continuities and changes of how women have been stereotyped and represented in the media in an interesting light. Dyhouse also included many references to other feminist works throughout this period and often compared them which acts as a helpful guide for what to read next and the context in which different works were written.
July 29, 2014
This is a thoroughly researched and well written insight into the changing (and not changing) attitudes of women, primarily in the UK but with references to the USA. This book shows how far women have come in some areas and how little has changed in others, particularly how the media and society as a whole responds when women act how they want to and not how they are told to (very familiar with this...). Dyhouse manages to keep much of her writing a little light-hearted given the subject matter and the implications of some of the continued attitudes that are found throughout society regarding women and our rights to self-determination in every aspect of our lives. My only criticism of this is that the chapters are rather long and there are no breaks within these, which would've made the reading of this a bit easier and more flexible. This book shows that while we (women and men together) have come far, there is still a long way to go before real equality is established, particularly in the media where guys can 'get away with' a lot than us girls cannot.
July 24, 2013
Excellent, as expected of Dyhouse. It's difficult to describe her prose without sounding like I'm damning it with faint praise: it's so lucid and economical and effortlessly enjoyable to read it's too easy to overlook the truly impressive scholarship and research behind every sensible, balanced sentence. This is a great overview/introduction to these themes, though having read her Glamour: Women, History, Feminism and Girls Growing Up in Late Victorian and Edwardian England, many elements (and some of the funniest bits of Victorian pseudoscience) were familiar to me; a very necessary corrective to much of the CURRENT pseudoscience (and panic) about girls and women in the media.
September 5, 2021
More thorough review to come maybe? This was the oldest book on my TBR, and I'm so happy to have finally read it but I do wish I had read it closer to the 7 or 8 years ago I initially spotted it. I wish this had been more critical maybe or dove deeper into specific moments. It covered a lot of ground and therefore most of what was brought up felt so brief. That being said, I think it was an interesting intro to the history of girlhood, moral panic, etc. (with regards to primarily white middle/working class British women) A quick read if it's something you're interested in, glad I read it, but wish I had picked it up years ago
July 17, 2017
This was a really interesting and pretty intense look at the changing lives of young women in (mainly) the United Kingdom and the United States.
It looks at all aspects of their lives, from the changing attitudes towards marriage and education, to the public responses to what they saw as wild young women.
From flappers to ladettes, this book shows how the public perception of young women often differed from reality, how rife double standards between the sexes have been and young women have had to fight every step of the way.
Really well put together and well written.
Grace
It looks at all aspects of their lives, from the changing attitudes towards marriage and education, to the public responses to what they saw as wild young women.
From flappers to ladettes, this book shows how the public perception of young women often differed from reality, how rife double standards between the sexes have been and young women have had to fight every step of the way.
Really well put together and well written.
Grace
February 3, 2019
Really good read, lets you see the patterns of moral panics over time about women's behaviour. I hope it insulates me against feeling moralistic about things in the future: https://blogendorff.com/2019/02/03/bo...
January 26, 2015
An amazing amount of well-balanced information is packed into an eminently readable and enjoyable history of British attitudes toward and obsessions with girls and young women and their behavior from the Victorian era to the present. I appreciate any history book that can cause me to laugh out loud. Includes lots of examples from popular culture--headlines, books, films--and puts current panics about young women into perspective. There are occasional references to North America, but the focus is on England. My only wish would have been a bit more comparison with how boys were depicted and treated in the same eras; there were probably parallels in some instances and stark contrasts in others. Thanks to our friend Michael, who gave it to me as a Christmas gift. Recommended!
January 20, 2014
As other reviewers have said, the best thing about this book is how it takes some difficulty and complex theories and turns them into easily understandable ideas - it's not a difficult read at all. What is difficult is the depressing truths within and seeing how little has changed in some aspects...
July 15, 2013
I enjoyed reading about Girl Trouble. It made me wonder how active were my female ancestors in the suffrage movement and as I have found the voter lists for my great grandmother and great great grand mother, I would like to believe they were very active.
March 22, 2013
So very good, such an amazing mass of research so engagingly written, such important debunking of pervasive popular preconceptions and nostalgic visions.
May 31, 2020
Read for work; a compelling overview of young women in British society since the late 19th century, with special attention to discourses of danger and deviance surrounding their behaviors and attitudes in different periods. Plus ça change... The book’s long view confirms the repeated cycles of emancipation and backlash noticeable when studying each period on its own. Whether it be the New Woman, the suffragette, the ‘good-Time girl,’ or the 60s & 70s ‘libers,’ with each struggle to move forward comes the inevitable misogynist pushback (and not only from men). Running through, from Ruskin’s Lilies to 21st century Ladettes, is the pressure to conform (and reprimand for failing to do so) to an unattainable (because a figment of men’s imagination) ideal of femininity. End of venting 😉
January 31, 2018
Loved it! After reading "Perfect Wives" by V. Nicholson I wanted to know more about the position and rights of women in British society before and after 1950s and this gave me just that. Comprehensive, well written overview. I'm trying my best to not get sucked into women's rights history but books like this ARE NOT HELPING. I really need to check out more about women in education after this because it seems like that fight was the true gateway to equal ground.
Hit me up if you want to borrow it.
Hit me up if you want to borrow it.
March 2, 2020
The cover blurb describes the book as a 'witty and wonderful' story of the challenges and opportunities faced by young women growing up in the 20th century. And yes, it is just that. Dyhouse takes a wry tone to the panic and paranoia that surrounds the awakening of young women to the possibilities of living once they have thrown off - or thrown off as best they can - the shackles of patriarchy. However in dealing with the whole of the 20th century the book is more a general overview rather than a reference text although there is an extensive bibliography for further reading.
January 16, 2022
Dyhouse explores the progress made in women's lives over the course of the 20th century (with a bit of a history of what came before). This book covers everything from Suffragettes to Beat Girls to Ladettes. It's an interesting and well researched work. It seems to show that women are targeted, young women especially, when the patriarchy feels threatened and like they're losing control of parts of society. Also seems to be tied up with aspects of xenophobia. So, a thought-provoking book in all.
December 7, 2017
I keep getting this author's books but I don't enjoy them and here's why. The books all focus on what old white Tory men think about Girl Culture, instead of focusing on the subjectivity of the girls themselves. I can't imagine anyone feels more ink needs to be spilled exploring what conservative white men think.
May 1, 2019
Although this took me three months to read (I kept getting distracted by other books), I did enjoy this. It’s a thoroughly researched, super interesting, and at times,
infuriating book. My only complain is that the blurb is a tiny bit misleading, I was expecting more exploration of pop culture icons mentioned. Would be good to read a more up to date version or follow-up.
infuriating book. My only complain is that the blurb is a tiny bit misleading, I was expecting more exploration of pop culture icons mentioned. Would be good to read a more up to date version or follow-up.
March 2, 2020
This was an easy read and did a good overview of British females during a decent span of time. A good springing board on the topic of Feminism through the ages from Suffragettes to Grrl power and the bibliography would be a great resource if looking for further reading. Has provided me with a new list of reading options on the topic of women's a studies which is a definite win.
February 15, 2018
A quick but still very detailed romp through the ages from local University of Sussex professor about the naughtiest and baddest women that ever walked the earth, covering different cultural and historical perspectives. A really interesting read!
March 20, 2020
Enjoyed learning about "white slaves" and how flappers of the 20s and 30s had the same issues as the laddettes of the 90s. Interesting to see sexualisation of women differently and challenge to the narrative that women are somehow sexually passive. Some chapters t0o long so only 4 stars for me.
June 25, 2020
Looking back in the decades where women and girls continuously being told to sit back and being modest and cover ourselves up, and how far do we need to go for sexual liberation. I wish I’ve finished reading this sooner!
July 11, 2018
Comprehensive overview of the perceptions and status of young women. It's a brief book, and can sometimes feel rushed as a result, but has a full bibliography for further reading.
December 6, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. It was pretty easy to read whilst also being really informative. I would recommend this book.
January 15, 2019
This was mostly great. But the section about eating disorders and obesity was...well, not good.
January 11, 2023
Good read, very informative. Though most of the history mentioned takes place in the UK starting at Victorian/Edwardian times, it does mention some US history and good sources for further reading.
October 23, 2023
Good. Interesting look at how women have progressed from the 1900's to today and how society has reacted to it. Easy to read and good usage of pictures to work with the story and make the points.
February 15, 2016
This covers a lot of time from Victorian to 20th century but it is eminently readable for all the information packed into the pages. It is fascinating and yet disheartening to read about really how little has changed in some respects when it comes to the sexuality of young women. We are still having the same arguments and fighting similar fights now. Even though we have never been so free in terms of contraception, education, and economic prospects, females are dealing with the ever-present sexual double standard still and even more pressure with the mainstreaming of porn and the rise of operations such as the labiaplasty. There is also the issue of contraceptive and abortion rights constantly being undermined in some countries.
I was glad that someone finally touched on the issue of girls/young women and their fascination with singers and bands. I have always felt that for girls, obsession with bands right from The Beatles to One Direction, are a safety valve for burgeoning sexuality in a society which still has a problem with seeing sexuality in any way except from the male gaze and male expectation of sex. Girls are force-fed romance, love, marriage, still from childhood up and sex is still considered as less important to women than those things. Masturbation and porn to a large extent are still considered male things and this leaves young women in a no-man's land (pun intended).
Dyhouse makes an interesting point about the fact that we are not perpetual victims and that women do have agency in their decisions but I disagree that factors such the 'pinkification' of everything female is not a problem. Yes, many girls like pink but when it gets to the point that there is no other choice and toys become gendered by colour then it is stifling. I also wonder what Dyhouse makes of the more recent rise of 'revenge porn' and girls being encouraged to send explicit photos which are then shared, along with other issues such as the plastic surgery on perfectly good body parts purely because of the unreal aesthetic standards required of the female body?
Overall a very interesting read.
I was glad that someone finally touched on the issue of girls/young women and their fascination with singers and bands. I have always felt that for girls, obsession with bands right from The Beatles to One Direction, are a safety valve for burgeoning sexuality in a society which still has a problem with seeing sexuality in any way except from the male gaze and male expectation of sex. Girls are force-fed romance, love, marriage, still from childhood up and sex is still considered as less important to women than those things. Masturbation and porn to a large extent are still considered male things and this leaves young women in a no-man's land (pun intended).
Dyhouse makes an interesting point about the fact that we are not perpetual victims and that women do have agency in their decisions but I disagree that factors such the 'pinkification' of everything female is not a problem. Yes, many girls like pink but when it gets to the point that there is no other choice and toys become gendered by colour then it is stifling. I also wonder what Dyhouse makes of the more recent rise of 'revenge porn' and girls being encouraged to send explicit photos which are then shared, along with other issues such as the plastic surgery on perfectly good body parts purely because of the unreal aesthetic standards required of the female body?
Overall a very interesting read.
November 8, 2013
This book about social obsession with the conduct of women and girls from the Victorian era to the present is well written and thoroughly footnoted and indexed. Its main focus is on Britain, but it references similar situations in the US. Some of it was familiar territory (fears that educating girls and young women would flatten their chests and shrivel their ovaries, unfitting them for motherhood--or, if it didn't do that, it would make them so strong minded and unwomanly that no man would want them), but some was new to me.
I didn't know about the Victorian obsession with the idea that pimps and shady characters were waiting in train stations and in doorways to kidnap innocent (white) young women and sell them into slavery. As I read this chapter, I recalled reading Sherlock Holmes stories where things like this happened, and that suddenly made sense. Apparently this fear led to the establishment of bills in Parliament and many societies for the protection of young (again, white) women and their virtue, but evidence suggests that there was no such epidemic of young women being kidnapped and forced into prostitution. As Dyhouse says late in her book, it is sometimes hard to tell at the time what is an issue of real, pressing concern, and what is being blown into a moral panic.
From this retrospective position, many of the worries people had about educating girls alongside boys, allowing them to move out of the family home to live on their own before marriage, opening a more complete range of professions to women,etc. appear completely overblown. Others, no matter how much we might wish they were settled (e.g., access to contraception and abortion), keep coming back as topics of controversy. This book shows us a progression in the state of the public attitude toward women, and chronicles the problems that resulted for society as well as the difficulties encountered by those who tried to change those attitudes.
Very well worth reading.
I didn't know about the Victorian obsession with the idea that pimps and shady characters were waiting in train stations and in doorways to kidnap innocent (white) young women and sell them into slavery. As I read this chapter, I recalled reading Sherlock Holmes stories where things like this happened, and that suddenly made sense. Apparently this fear led to the establishment of bills in Parliament and many societies for the protection of young (again, white) women and their virtue, but evidence suggests that there was no such epidemic of young women being kidnapped and forced into prostitution. As Dyhouse says late in her book, it is sometimes hard to tell at the time what is an issue of real, pressing concern, and what is being blown into a moral panic.
From this retrospective position, many of the worries people had about educating girls alongside boys, allowing them to move out of the family home to live on their own before marriage, opening a more complete range of professions to women,etc. appear completely overblown. Others, no matter how much we might wish they were settled (e.g., access to contraception and abortion), keep coming back as topics of controversy. This book shows us a progression in the state of the public attitude toward women, and chronicles the problems that resulted for society as well as the difficulties encountered by those who tried to change those attitudes.
Very well worth reading.
August 29, 2013
Finished Girl Trouble as it is only from the perspective of Britain it is a little restrictive. It would be interesting to know about a book that covered many countries into one. In the part focusing on the 19th and early 20th centuries I have to admit I was sceptical. However, I have not made that time period a study of mine, altho' I have not come across the newspaper headlines in any of the things I have read. But as I have not seen all the editions of The Women's World, from the mid 1880s I cannot say for sure none of these stories didn't feature in that periodical in some form. Be that as it may I should also point out that at least in London in the late 1890s women over the age of 30 and had property could vote in local elections. Of course that did leave out many other women and who knows as yet if their votes actually counted! Also if you happen to follow a current feminist like Laurie Penny for example, recently, you do still bring into question the future of women, whether as feminists or not. Domestic abuse is still ever on the rise and not just in Britain as is sexism and racism. On the whole an interesting book into the lives of young women in history, much of the time even other women were not their allies or sympathetic.
June 6, 2016
This book provides a history of the obsession with the conduct of young women, which has been a constant throughout history, from the Victorian era to the present. It's divided into several sections focusing on a particularly topic, and each of those sections are presented in chronological order.
I found the book extremely well-written and organized. Dyhouse is a balanced commentator, pointing out studies which are limited and drawing attention to differing views, especially on current events in feminism. Each section seemed warranted, without repeats but drawing on previous chapters. The book never lost my attention.
I'm not someone who puts markers in books or takes notes on them (except for negative things when preparing to review a book), but I filled this one with post-its - choice quotes from other books, novels and memoirs to look out, interesting information, etc...
I found the book extremely well-written and organized. Dyhouse is a balanced commentator, pointing out studies which are limited and drawing attention to differing views, especially on current events in feminism. Each section seemed warranted, without repeats but drawing on previous chapters. The book never lost my attention.
I'm not someone who puts markers in books or takes notes on them (except for negative things when preparing to review a book), but I filled this one with post-its - choice quotes from other books, novels and memoirs to look out, interesting information, etc...
August 30, 2013
I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. The topic isn't one I'd read much about previously, but it sounded interesting. This book is eye-opening and extraordinarily well-researched. It chronicles the social history of young women throughout the past century, and I was struck by how well the author analyzed social changes that I'd lived through, but hadn't given much prior thought to. Personally, I would have preferred more first-hand accounts, such as interviews or diary entries...I wanted to get more of a "feel" for what it was like being a young woman in decades past, and at times I found the prose to be overly matter-of-fact and impersonal. Still, a very interesting and informative read that I recommend to anyone with an interest in this topic.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews