Feminism

Adolescence, Literature and Censorship:

Unpacking The Controversy Surrounding Judy Blume

By Mallory Szymanski | comments |

This paper argues for a need to re-evaluate the importance of Judy Blume’s work among youths and teens. While discussing the history of “book banning” and more recent debates on the idea of censorship, this author argues that Blume’s work stands as a point of familiarity, comfort and understanding amongst adolescents. The paper finds its primary focus in Blume’s exploration of the idea of sexual normativity and acceptance amongst peers, but the paper also speaks to the broader issues that Blume explores in her texts – diseases, abnormalities, parental association and peer-pressure. Overall, this author asks that both readers and critiques re-examine the social, environmental and literary value of Blume’s work within, what the author seems to argue, is an unaccepting, often sceptical social milieu. The author supports her thesis that Blume’s work has been pivotal as a tool for social affirmation and growth among adolescents by citing letters, opinions and critiques who responses reaffirm their love for Blume’s work.

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Adolescence, Literature and Censorship:

Unpacking the Controversy Surrounding Judy Blume

By Mallory Szymanski | comments |

While discussing the history of “book banning” and more recent debates on the idea of censorship, the author argues that Judy Blume’s work stands as a point of familiarity, comfort and understanding amongst adolescents. The paper finds its primary focus in Blume’s exploration of the idea of sexual normativity and acceptance amongst peers, but also speaks to broader issues that Blume explores in her texts – diseases, abnormalities, parental association and peer-pressure. Overall, the author asks that both readers and critics re-examine the social, environmental and literary value of Blume’s work within, what the author argues, is an unaccepting, often sceptical social milieu. Blume’s work has been pivotal as a tool for social affirmation and growth among adolescents by citing letters, opinions and critiques who responses reaffirm their love for Blume’s work.

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Home-Making and Nation-Building:

The Better Homes in America Campaign as Social Index

By Jaqueline Shine | comments |

An excerpt from her longer thesis on the cultural meaning of home in the interwar United States, this paper explores the degree to which popular images of the American home were instrumental elements of the sociopolitical construction of the homeownership ideal from 1920 to 1935. Through examining articles written in the Delineator—a popular women’s magazine in the 1920s—and its well known “Better Homes in America Campaign,” the author deconstructs the language of social norms and problematizes their use. Tracking President Hoover’s interest in the project, the Delineator is revealed to have been a vehicle not only for maintaining a gendered and polarized social order, but also for disseminating government ideological concerns of race and consumerism. Moreover, these early attempt at broadening government influence through managing media representations and codifying American identities ultimately set the stage for the American federal government’s large-scale interventions in the postwar housing market.

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