Abstract
In recent years, the proliferation of sexual content in popular culture accessed by pre-teen girls has drawn widespread debate and concern. Largely absent from the discussion thus far have been the perspectives of girls themselves. Cognisant of the knowledge gap, in this article we investigate pre-teen girls’ accounts of sexual content in a widely used popular culture form: a girls’ magazine. Their accounts are viewed through the lens of recent theorization of postfeminist sexuality discourse in popular culture. Our analyses of girls’ (11—14) focus group discussions identified the Australasian magazine Girlfriend as a postfeminist sexuality resource about diverse sexual practices, boys and safe sex. Girls variously located themselves within its postfeminist sexuality discourses as sexually sophisticated and knowledgeable and on occasion outside of it as sceptical critics. We suggest that while postfeminist popular culture may open up possibilities to be sexually savvy girls, the ‘price’ may be intensification of (hetero)sexual self-surveillance and responsibility.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
