ABSTRACT
This conclusion works to show how, taken together, these five case studies document a broader “grand narrative” (Thiel-Stern, 2014, p. 2) about U.S. girls during the 30-year window covered in the book. It takes a big-picture look at how key recurring theoretical and discursive concepts—innocence, neoliberalism, risk, spectacularization, moral panic, sexualization—work to construct this broader narrative about girls’ troublesome bodies, sexuality (although predominantly heterosexuality), and physicality. Moreover, as Thiel-Stern argues, these cultural snapshots highlight “the media’s policing of gender performance and calling out teen girls when they are not enacting proper femininity” (p. 13).
