Girl Culture [Hardcover]

Lauren Greenfield (Author)

Book Description

Renowned photographer Lauren Greenfield has won acclaim and awards for her studies of youth culture. In Girl Culture, she combines a photojournalists sense of story with fine-art composition and color to create an astonishing and intelligent exploration of American girls. Her photographs provide a window into the secret worlds of girls social lives and private rituals, the dressing room and locker room, as well as the iconic subcultures of the popular clique: cheerleaders, showgirls, strippers, debutantes, actresses, and models. With 100 hypnotic photographs, 20 interviews with the subjects, and an introduction by foremost historian of American girlhood Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Greenfield reveals the exhibitionist nature of modern femininity and how far it has drifted from the feminine ideologies of the past.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Greenfield's stark photographs of girls and young women doing everything from practicing Tae-Bo in Beverly Hills to performing lap dances in Las Vegas aren't for the faint of heart. But the collection is so hard to put down that it's not destined to languish on a coffee table, either. Images of teenagers at weight loss camp or getting ready for a quinceanera (a 15th birthday ritual in the Hispanic community) come to life thanks to frank, first-person monologues from the girls themselves. A photograph of Erin, 24, getting "blind-weighed" (with her back to the scale) at an eating disorder clinic in Coconut Creek, Fla., is accompanied by this hair-raising commentary: "I'm known for my eating disorder. It's my identity.... My nickname is Itty-Bitty, so what am I going to be without it? It's what makes me special. So I would just be ordinary without it. And for me, that's hard to admit." Although much of the text focuses on typical (but still depressing) teen issues such as peer pressure and drug abuse, readers should hang in there for glimmers of optimism and even brilliance. Jessica, 20, a member of Stanford University's women's swim team, says, "I think any female athlete has a sense of being kind of like Wonder Woman. You are able to do things that are a little closer to superhuman than normal girls. There's a little bit of Wonder Woman in everyone." Indeed, Greenfield's unflinching portraits, which will be at New York's Pace/MacGill Gallery this fall and will travel to the West Coast, are a testimony to that spirit.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

American girlhood ain't what it used to be. Maybe there are pockets of girls out there who still revel in the "Little House on the Prairie" books or dress up their dolls or run lemonade stands. But they aren't catching the eyes of sociologists, who seem to agree that girls today are growing up in a hyper-sexualized peer pressure-cooker and they don't show up in "Girl Culture," a new book from photographer Lauren Greenfield (Chronicle Books; $40.00). Even the youngest girls in Greenfield's gritty, gorgeous portraits are far too busy dressing up like Barbie dolls to play with them.
A gentle warning: this is not a book for parents desperate to maintain their naivete about what's happening in their daughters' lives: these accounts show you more than you've ever imagined about the sexual and social habits of girls. Greenfield's photographs are accompanied by narratives from the girls themselves; the stories they tell, which are unflinchingly raw and honest, are often difficult to read. No matter how well you think you understand what goes on in adolescent life, it can be shocking to read first-hand accounts of the jealousy, pettiness, meanness and general anxiety that characterize female adolescence.
The girls in this book range in age from pre-school to post-grad. And Greenfield makes good use of the insecurities of each age, zeroing in on the shame of an 11-year-old at fat camp, emphasizing the anxiety of an up-and-coming actress standing outside her trailer, highlighting the terrible uncertainty of a teenage girl who is banished, by virtue of her rounded face and curly dark hair, from the blonde, slim world of the popular girls.
While it will come as no surprise to learn that beauty and appearance feature prominently the minds of most girls, Greenfield's portraits reveal the force with which the need to be desired, even objectified, in a very adult way is expressed, as well as the unexpected ambivalence with which that objectification, once achieved, is met. The book's teenage and pre-teen girls put on the trappings of adult sexuality the makeup, the hairstyles, the clothing but they aren't quite sure what to do with themselves once they're done. One series of photos shows a group of 7th-grade friends getting ready to go to a party; Hannah, a member of the group, talks with aching honesty about the dichotomy of appearance and reality. "I've been approached by people who think I'm older... It makes me kind of uncomfortable, because I might look older, but underneath it all, I'm only 13. It's kind of scary. It's a hard feeling to not know where you fit in yet."
While some of the girls' attempts at premature adulthood are wryly amusing, others are nearly tragic. Four-year-old Allegra is the youngest subject of Greenfield's camera; she poses on several pages wearing makeup, a too-large pink leotard and gold pumps. The images are eerily reminiscent of Jon-Benet Ramsey's now immortal beauty queen poses.
If there's anything to learn from this book, it's that there's simply no escape from the ordeals of girl culture. "Fat" girls get picked on, too-skinny girls get laughed at, popular girls spend their time worrying they'll stop being popular. Even beautiful girls suffer: Sara, a lanky, blonde 19-year-old model living in New York, describes an episode where a businessman approaches her on the sidewalk, puts his hand on her shoulder and asks to take a picture with her. When she brushes him off, he retaliates. "Five seconds later, I feel another tap on my shoulder," she recounts. "I turn around, and the same guy shoved me on the pavement." Sara doesn't seem particularly angry or upset about this incident, just sad.
And sadness is a common underlying theme of these stories; while many of the girls put on the perky, insouciant faces they feel they're expected to wear, their words betray a longing to be superficially different smaller, taller, richer, blonder. The hierarchy of acceptable attributes is spelled out

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1 edition (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811837904
• ISBN-13: 978-0811837903
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 12.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #93 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography > Photojournalism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unflinching Look at the Cauldron that Forges Women, October 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Girl Culture (Hardcover)

With a lens that doesn't shy away from the 4 year old in a mini sequined gown, the cheesy backstage of a Las Vegas strip club, a surgical suite during a breast augmentation, or Panama Beach, FL at spring break, Lauren Greenfield's wide ranging photoessay provides an honest insider's view of the culture that forges women in the U.S. today. Anyone raising girls, anyone who was a girl, and anyone interested in trying to understand women, should have this book! What a magnificent find!

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ARTWEEK REVIEW - FEBRUARY 2003, February 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Girl Culture (Hardcover)

Lauren Greenfield's photographs from her most recent project, Girl Culture,
represents an important return to traditional photography and a break with
the popular, staged work of the past decade. Using a 35mm camera and
working intuitively and spontaneously, Greenfield returns to the basics -
picturing that which is important and reorganizing the chaos of the real
world into compelling and complex images that speak to our experiences as
emotional beings. This may sound simple, but over the past ten years,
photographers have moved far from the traditional approach and into the
imaginative fictions of Hollywood films, utilizing elaborate productions
crews and massive digital prints. Greenfield, in a powerful and compelling
exhibition and book, brings photography back down to earth, and in doing so,
signals a shift in contemporary picture making.

Greenfield has spent more than five years photographing young women and
girls, plumbing the zeitgeist for clues about body image, self-esteem,
consumerism and sexuality. As you can imagine, the results are not pretty.
They are skewed toward the complicated psychological arena where
self-awareness is mixed with victimization. The exhibition and book are
quite different experiences due to the fact that the publication included
interviews with the subjects. For a full appreciation of how vital this
work is to photography and to women¹s studies, it is important to see them
both. I found a pervasive sadness to the interviews, wherein women spoke of
the pressures to be thin, stylish and sexual and then expressed admiration
for these ideals, like an alcoholic who continues drinking, encouraging
others to join in.

The exhibition at Stephen Cohen Gallery is immediately remarkable due to the
intimate scale of the photographs. The prints range from 11 by 14 inches to
16 by 20 inches with only a few being larger. This changes the experience
of the work by drawing the viewers in close to read and interpret the
images. Besides the modest print size, when we get close to the
photographs, we can see the tiny specks of grain and notice that some of
them are a bit out of focus. This may seem sound like a criticism, but
these imperfections are a refreshing departure from the majority of
contemporary photography, suggesting the haphazard complexity of real life
and the medium¹s dependence on the artist¹s unique vision.

Greenfield¹s photographs are well known from major magazines and often
display a biting criticism and acerbic wit. These characteristics are used
mercilessly in some of the images. Lillian, then 18, shops at Kirna Zabete,
New York shows the pretty blonde sitting in an upscale boutique, holding a
red shoe. Her mouth hangs open in mid-sentence and its red-lined, oval
shape is echoed in the red, open-toed, ankle-strapped slingback she is
holding. Lillian reeks of having too much money and too little taste, and
the photograph is an indictment of her shallowness and vanity. In the
interview, Lillian says she hates being a blonde but claims to be so only
because she¹s an actress. Her awareness of the burden of beauty is
outweighed by her greedy consumerism. Another highly critical image shows
pornographic film star Taylor Wayne, who, dripping in jewelry, strikes a
clichéd pose, her massive breasts practically bursting from her dress. She
looks like a parody of herself, more of a mannequin than a real woman.

Greenfield¹s tone is more forgiving when she examines subjects who have less
control over their lives. The photographs of kids and teenagers, some at
weight-loss camp, exude a compassion that is balanced with the artist¹s
critical eye. Paula, 11, at weight-loss camp, Catskill, New York is
heartbreaking but empowering. Apprehensive of the camera, the pudgy girl
with crimson cheeks turns her body away, clasping her hands in front of her
chest defensively. Greenfield photographs her in the shade without a flash,
and the soft, cool-cyan light bespeaks the girl¹s vulnerability. Using
wide-angle lens and slightly tilting the camera, she keeps our attention on
the girl¹s face and accents her expression and wide body. The image is
gentle but also has the effect of suggesting her inner power and creates an
optimism not seen in the more critical pictures. So too with the image of
Joyce, Elysia and Alison at their friend¹s sixteenth birthday party.
Instead of primping or showing off, the three girls embrace and comfort each
other. The picture is so intimate that it reveals an emotional support
system so vital to many of the younger women pictured here.

The power and importance of Greenfield¹s work arises from its combination of
poignant subject matter, powerful compositions and framing, and the profound
connection between the subject and tradition the artist creates through her
masterful technique. The only weakness in the work is the dense contrast
between shadows and lights in many of the prints which takes away from their
emotional strengths. Greenfield is often referred to as a photojournalist,
which understates her importance in the art world. She is certainly not
driven to make pictures just because she is on assignment, but more likely
out of the desire to express her personal vision through relevant subjects.
Like Nan Goldin who, in 1987, showed that there was more to photography than
postmodern intellectualism, Greenfield takes us away from the monotonous,
digitized unreality of so much contemporary fine art photography. In so
doing, she reestablishes the primacy of the individual artist¹s vision in
connecting passion and subject matter.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American Photo Review Jan/Feb 2003, December 19, 2002

By 

"traceyhinson" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Girl Culture (Hardcover)

They are always blond, it seems, and always thin: the Popular Girls of every woman's haunted teenage memories. They are named Monique or Sandy or, of course, Heather, and their lithe legs stretch a mile from their fashionably rolled-up shorts to their totally cool sneakers - a degree of stylistic perfection unattainable by mere mortals. They seem so preternaturally gifted that you wonder whether such grace can persist into adulthood. (Maybe you hope it doesn't.) You also wonder whether these girls are happy.
Lauren Greenfield wondered just that when she traveled to Edina, Minnesota, in 1998 to photograph a story for The New York Times Magazine on the expansive topic of "being 13." Her pictures of the glorious blond Alpha Girls ruling over the seventh grade there began to provide an answer. The photos also began to convince Greenfield that there was much to be revealed about the real lives of American girls. It all led to a new book, Girl Culture (Chronicle Books, $40), an ambitious effort that blurs the distinction between photojournalism, art, and social science. (An accompanying exhibition of the images opened in October at the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York and will be traveling to the Stephen Cohen Gallery in Los Angeles in December and the Robert Koch Gallery in San Francisco in January.) "What I learned shooting the 'popular girls' in Edina was how hard it was to stay on top," says Greenfield, "and how insecure they felt about their social position. One said she was afraid she would come to school one day and suddenly find that she wasn't in the popular group anymore. Another girl said that if she could do it over again, she'd rather have real friends who liked her for who she was." Instead, she was rewarded for who she appeared to be.
That raw truth - the tyranny of appearance in the lives of young girls and women-lies at the center of Greenfield's book. The girls in Girl Culture range from four-year-olds playing dress-up in spangly princess outfits to awkward teenagers arriving at a weight-loss summer camp to Las Vegas showgirls and strippers plying their trade. In one way or another, all of them are defined by how they look. Like the photographs in Greenfield's first book, 1997's acclaimed Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood, the images in Girl Culture are often weighty with unflinching detail. In one shot, a showgirl named Anne-Margaret is seen reflected in her dressing-room mirror at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. Taped to the side of the mirror is a handwritten note that reads I APPROVE OF MYSELF alongside pictures of models the dancer admires. That picture, shot on assignment for Stern magazine, got Greenfield thinking "about how girls construct their identities, how they use pieces of the outside world to express themselves."
Soon, Greenfield, who recently became a member of the VII photo agency, began seeing aspects of girl culture all around her: on an assignment in Florida shooting a story on spring break, with its "girls gone wild" partying; while photographing Chattanooga, Tennessee, debutantes who complained about being fat as a size four; and while shooting the Edina teenagers, whose unforgiving social structure was described by one of their mothers as consisting of "tier-one, tier-two, and tier-three girls." Putting the book together, Greenfield says, was an intuitive process. "I made a lot of different pictures that seemed like pieces of the puzzle," she says, "but I didn't know until I was editing it whether they would all fit together." The puzzle included some surprising juxtapositions, tying together the worlds of girls and adult women. "When I looked at the exhibitionism of strippers, it reminded me of little girls and how they perform, how they look for approval," the photographer says. "In pictures, you can't help seeing the similarities in dress and body language."
The work was also cathartic. Greenfield was once, after all, a little girl who grew into a woman in the American body culture, and she recounts her own teenage years of chronic dieting, anxiety about her own popularity, and a conviction that her outer appearance reflected the imperfections that lurked on the inside. In this Greenfield has plenty of company. One eating-disorder clinic estimates that 85 percent of adult females wake up each morning dissatisfied with their weight and appearance, determined to somehow replicate the ever-shrinking dimensions of "lollipop" actresses and models (so called because their heads look oversized atop their sticklike frames). Joan Jacobs Brumberg, a historian at Cornell University, who wrote the introduction to Greenfield's book, feels that the current cultural environment, fueled by commercial forces outside the family and community, is actually toxic for adolescent girls "because of the anxieties it generates about the developing female body and sexuality."
One bright spot in this dispiriting landscape of insecurity and self-blame is the rise of girls' athletics, which is credited with giving at least some girls a body identity that arises from their abilities rather than their decorativeness. Greenfield says that the athletes she photographed-including tennis star Venus Williams, members of the Stanford University women's swim team, and players on the Little Indians softball team in Naples, Florida, where girls' softball is a local tradition-had a sense of a goal broader than themselves. "They have a larger and more important context in which to see themselves," she says, "that has to do with making a faster time, or coming through for their team, rather than simply looking good when they walk out the door."
The book also features Greenfield's bracingly honest interviews with some of the girls she photographed, such as Stephanie, 14, whom the photographer met at the weight-loss camp, and Sheena, a 15-year-old struggling with her body image (see page 56). "I think it's a challenging culture for girls to grow up in," Greenfield admits. "My role isn't to condemn it, but to try to show the pieces, to put them together. This book is a subjective view of one aspect of the girl culture. It's not the whole story, but it's the part of the story that leaves no one untouched."