Girl Wide Web: Girls, the Internet, and the Negotiation of Identity

by Sharon R. Mazzarella (Editor)

Overview

Given the rapidly growing presence of girls online, serious academic inquiry into the relationship between girls and the Internet is imperative. Girl Wide Web is an innovative collection of cutting-edge research exploring a wide sweep of issues related to the ways adolescent girls interact with the Internet. Employing a range of methodologies and theoretical perspectives primarily within cultural studies, the authors examine a variety of topics – from instant messaging and web-diaries to online fan communities and Internet advertising that targets young girls. Taken together, these essays provide a rich portrait of the complex relationship among girls, the Internet, and the negotiation of identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820471174
Publisher:	Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Publication date:	03/29/2005
Series:	Intersections in Communications and Culture: Global Approaches and Transdisciplinary Perspectives , #11
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

The Editor: Sharon R. Mazzarella is Associate Professor in the Department of Television and Radio at Ithaca College, and co-editor of Growing Up Girls: Popular Culture and the Construction of Identity (Peter Lang, 1999).

Table of Contents

Contents: Sharon R. Mazzarella: Introduction. It’s a Girl Wide Web – Lynne Y. Edwards: Victims, Villains, and Vixens. Teen Girls and Internet Crime – Ashley D. Grisso/David Weiss: What are gURLS Talking about? Adolescent Girls’ Construction of Sexual Identity on gURL.com – Debra Merskin: Making an About-Face. Jammer Girls and the World Wide Web – Susan F. Walsh: Gender, Power, and Social Interaction. How Blue Jean Online Constructs Adolescent Girlhood – Susan J. Harewood/Angharad N. Valdivia: Exploring Dora. Re-embodied Latinidad on the Web – Christine Scodari: You’re Sixteen, You’re Dutiful, You’re Online. «Fangirls» and the Negotiation of Age and/or Gender Subjectivities in TV Newsgroups – Kimberly S. Gregson: What if the Lead Character Looks Like Me? Girl fans of Shoujo Anime and Their Web Sites – Sharon R. Mazzarella: Claiming a Space. The Cultural Economy of Teen Girl Fandom on the Web – Divya C. McMillin: Teen Crossings. Emerging Cyberpublics in India – Shayla Marie Thiel: «IM Me». Identity Construction and Gender Negotiation in the World of Adolescent Girls and Instant Messaging – Lynn Schofield Clark: The Constant Contact Generation. Exploring Teen Friendship Networks Online.

Editorial Reviews

«This collection of well-researched and stimulating essays about girls’ Internet use thoughtfully explores the intersection of girlhood, technology, and identity development. From personal home pages to commercial websites to instant messenger and chat, the various applications of the WWW are investigated with an eye toward girls as unique users, creators, citizens, and audiences. The book challenges popular constructions of girls as technologically naïve, culturally duped, and vulnerable, and instead reveals how girls use the WWW to produce and reproduce culture, to communicate, and to navigate childhood and adolescence. ‘Girl Wide Web’ makes significant contributions to our growing understanding of girl culture at the start of the new millennium.» (Susannah R. Stern, Communication Studies, University of San Diego)

From the Publisher