ABSTRACT

The Routledge Companion to Girls’ Studies is the definitive guide to the international, interdisciplinary, and intersectional field of Girls’ Studies, bringing together leading and emerging scholars across a range of academic disciplines to address timely topics on global girls and girlhoods.

Spread across four thematic sections, the essays in this collection offer a glimpse into the evolution of the field, directly challenge and move beyond the field’s early shortcomings, provide compelling examples of current research, and suggest new directions for future Girls’ Studies scholars. Chapters explore the connections between girlhoods and such topics as sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, education, activism, social-class, ability, gender identity, media representation, and more.

The Routledge Companion to Girls’ Studies is of value to scholars and students of gender studies, media studies, sociology, education, health, literature, sexuality studies, communication, child and youth studies, and more.

chapter |15 pages

Introduction

part One|98 pages

What Can Girls' Studies Be?

chapter 1|11 pages

Girl Power and Its Afterlife

Neoliberalism and the Invention of Girlhood Studies

chapter 2|14 pages

Girls' Studies and the Humanities

Recognizing Human-as-Girl

chapter 3|8 pages

For the Love of Black Girls

Building Black Girlhood Studies as a Lifejacket

chapter 4|16 pages

Listen Up

Trans Girls, Trans Girlhoods, and Trans Girl Joy

chapter 5|12 pages

Girlhood Studies

The First Fifteen Years

chapter 7|13 pages

Polaroid Possibilities

Immanent Girlhood and the Tangle of Temporality

chapter 8|11 pages

Looking Forward

The Future of Girls' Studies

part Two|107 pages

Who Is the “Girl” in Girls' Studies?

chapter 11|13 pages

Kitab 1 Versus Hijab

Muslim Girls Regenerating Politics in India

chapter 12|11 pages

Funding Girls' Activism

Cooptation, Feminism, and Institutional Change

chapter 13|12 pages

Girls Fighting for the Planet

Climate Activism as Caring Intimate Counterpublics

chapter 14|11 pages

“Girls Can't Do This Alone”

Understanding Girls' Agency During Adolescence in Nine Countries

chapter 16|10 pages

Girls in Deprived Areas

Place, Violence, and Femininity

chapter 17|11 pages

Visibilizing Quinceañeras as Generational and Ethnic Bridge

Flashpoints of Latina Girlhoods

part Three|110 pages

Representing Girls and Girlhoods

chapter 19|10 pages

Dare to Dream

Family, Ambition, and Girlhood in Post-Millennial South Asian Cinema

chapter 21|13 pages

“What It Feels Like for a Girl”

Exploring Girlhood in a Jamaican Context Through Olive Senior's “Do Angels Wear Brassieres?”

chapter 22|11 pages

“Work, Sleep, Make Money”

Girlboss Memes, Feminine Precarities, and the Endurance of the “Problematic” Girl

chapter 23|12 pages

The Internet of (Feminist) Girls

Re-reading Gendered Internet Histories

chapter 24|13 pages

(Re)visiting a Girl Revolution

Riot Grrrl Zines, Liminality, and Anarcha-Feminism

chapter 25|13 pages

The Erasure of Counter-Stereotypical Female Characters From Disney's Transmedia Toys

Exploring Toy, Media, and Audience Tensions

chapter 26|14 pages

Celebrity Girls' Studies

Interdisciplinary Scholarship on Fame, Girlhoods, and Identity

part Four|78 pages

Bodies, Sex, and Sexualities

chapter 28|13 pages

The Sexual Health of Adolescents in Uganda

When Restricting Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs Is All About Girls

chapter 29|12 pages

Crush-Tastic

When Girls Encounter Sexually Explicit Materials

chapter 30|12 pages

Talking with Girls about Porn

chapter 31|12 pages

Junior Fiction Magazines as a Means of Sex Education

Examining Yoshida Toshi's The Castle of Venus

chapter 32|12 pages

“God Is Always Watching You, Capeesh?”

Satirizing Religion and Empowering Girls' Sexuality