ABSTRACT
In this book I have looked at the relationship between the media, dominant gender and sexual discourses, educational research and policies and teen girls' lived experiences. I've argued that postfeminist ‘presumptions’ of gender equality obscure on-going issues of sexual difference and sexism that girls experience in the classroom, playground and beyond. These are the ‘sexual politics’ of schooling I have sought to underline and return our analysis to. As part of the dynamic of the media-charged landscape, we are often faced with the problem that issues facing girls and women are either invisible/neglected or they become sensationalised. I have explored a range of what I positioned as postfeminist panics over girlhood, each of which reproduce ideas of feminine ‘excess’ (Walkerdine, 1991) including concerns over girls as too academically successful, too indirectly mean or overtly aggressive and too sexual.
