The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls

by Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Book Overview

The award-winning author of Fasting Girls explores what teenage girls have lost in this new world of freedom and consumerism--a world in which the body is their primary project.

"Fascinating ... riveting ... Women and girls should read this fine book together." --The New York Times Book Review

A hundred years ago, women were lacing themselves into corsets and teaching their daughters to do the same. The ideal of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679735291
• ISBN13: 9780679735298
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

History of our modern obsessions

This book was an amazing journey that helped me understand the underpinnings of the modern American woman's relationship with sexuality. By tracing the roots of our modern traditions to their Victorian foundations, Brumberg educates the reader and also paints a stark picture of the way young girls have started to come into their sexuality in the past few decades. She argues that girls today are out of sync, that their bodies develop before they are emotionally ready to deal with issues of sexuality. She further asserts (and proves, in my opinion) that the historical move away from home-based economies and social structures has robbed modern girls of vital mentoring from their adult female relatives. This lack of female mentoring leads to the confusion and insecurity that anyone who watches MTV cannot deny is rampant today. This book is an important read for educators, parents, and anyone interested in unerstanging how (and why) young women today experience sexualization by a culture all too ready to exploit their insecurities for profit. All in all, a fascinating and very readable study of a crucial subject.

A Comprehensive History of Women's Self-Image through Time

This book was amazing! It is easy to read and so informative. It covers women from the Victorian age up to modern time using case studies to show the changing views about their bodies. I reccomend this book to young girls, teens, and mothers. A wonderful work!

Social history doesn't get better than this!

Joan Jacobs Brumberg has attracted her share of controversy for this book and her earlier work in the field of "body history". The criticism lies largely in the fact that Brumberg does not fit easily into the pro-sex feminist/anti-sex traditionalist dichotomy that characterizes far too much of the discussion about young women's sexuality and body identity these days.Using diary excerpts as her core sources of evidence, Brumberg charts the changing relationship between young women and their bodies over the past century and a half. Though the material on the 19th and early 20th century is fascinating, useful, and accessible for a general audience, the high point of the book comes over the final two chapters, which cover the period from the 1960s to the 1990s. Unlike cultural conservatives in the feminist world (think Christina Hoff Summers or Gertrude Himmelfarb), Brumberg is deeply appreciative of the enormous benefits of the sexual revolution, especially in terms of the availability of sexual information and the growing willingness of our society to see women as active sexual agents. On the other hand (unlike a Naomi Wolf), she is troubled (and rightly so, in my opinion) by the eagerness of our culture to sexualize and exploit the bodies of adolescent women who are simply not prepared to cope with the emotional, social, and physical impact of early sexual experience. In her final chapter, Brumberg writes: "Although I applaud the social freedom and economic opportunities enjoyed by the current cohort of high school and college girls, their "autonomy" seems to be oversold, if not illusory." Young men tend to only applaud young women's autonomy when it leads to sexual availability, not when it leads to the decision to postpone sex; advertisers certainly only applaud young women's autonomy when it leads them to buy their products, not when it leads them to question consumerism itself.The more I hear the stories of my female students, of all races and socio-economic backgrounds, about the prevalence of eating disorders, their anxiety about their own bodies, and the pain of our casual and exploitative "hook-up" culture, the more I realize that Brumberg is right when she notes, in her conclusion, "more than any other group in the population, girls and their bodies have borne the brunt of 20th century social change, and we ignore that fact at our peril." It is not anti-feminist to want to protect young women from sexual and commercial exploitation; indeed, it is the essence of what it means to believe in women.

A complex, accessible & contemorarily relevant history

This is one of those all-too-rare precious books that makes a complex, carefully-researched historical argument accessible and contemporarily relevant. As a history professor at Rollins College, I used THE BODY PROJECT in my "Women in the Modern U.S." course in Spring of 1999. The book was a stunning success; it really hit home with our young women, far too many of whom, I discovered, are struggling with eating disorders, sexual pressures, and all kinds of insecurities about their appearance. Young men commented that reading and discussing the book was an eye-opening experience that helped them better understand and empathize with their female friends. Brumberg's historical analysis of girls' body issues and their roots is brilliant and useful. It opens up conversations that we really need to have--throughout society but perhaps on college campuses in particular. History instructors will be especially pleased at students' response to Brumberg's use of diaries as primary sources. Because students can relate to these sources--indeed, most have created such sources themselves--Brumberg's book helps them understand and appreciate historical methodology and historical actors. I especially value the elegance with which Brumberg upsets the progressive, "you've-come-a-long-way-baby" preconceptions about women's history. In the end, she makes us all think more critically about the fantastic and inspirational!...Interesting and more importantly HELPFUL in understanding why girls do certain things...Offers a unique perspective on women that people do not often hear...I was so captivated by the research she's done...Brumberg has compelling ideas and theories behind our society's socialization process. The issues that she addresses are quite relevant to concerns of many students on this campus."