Situating American Girl: Tools of Socialization in a Changing Culture

Abstract

Zaslow begins by briefly reviewing scholarly studies on children’s literature as a tool of political dissent and on dolls as cultural texts that not only serve as loving playthings, but as objects that embody and shape meaning about what it means to be an American girl and woman. The chapter concludes by historically situating the popularity of American Girl within an era characterized by neoliberal girl power media culture, a backlash against feminism, and a burgeoning conservativism. As concern grew into a moral panic about the ways in which sexual power was becoming a synecdoche for female power, the neo-historical, pre-sexual, kind, and fair characters of American Girl became sought after by parents who wanted to teach a particular kind of innocent, educated, and empowered girlhood.