Celebrating Girlhood and Feminine Identity

I have read through the comments on here. What I observe is that the artist went through being looked at as less than in her family because she was a girl, so when her daughter played sports she didn't take pictures of the games but the interactions of the people. It would have been nice to see more of a spectrum of what the female can look like and do, but this is from her viewpoint. Maybe this is what she knows and sees reflecting back to her from her life. There is nothing sexualized in these pictures, they look like real life. Beautiful females doing what they do. Just like when it is talked of patriarchy, this does not include everyone, and that is okay. This is one point of view and it is beautiful. I enjoyed the article and the pictures. If I can make a suggestion I would love to read an article of how this country is going to become more equal with some ideas or suggestions.

Of course this is not the final statement on what is feminine or not, it is what the photographer found, and she found well, it doesn't mean she didn't look for alternative forms, that are certainly out there but this is what she found...and out of the compilation this is what you get artistically in the edit process for presentation. She has the eye and the concept but perhaps not all the funding or time to cover all bases. Encourage this photographer and you will get more on the statement.

Ever since the beginning of time, women were seen as less useful than men, or not treated as fairly. In some places, women still can not even vote or drive. The desire and the movements for women's rights are increasing wildly, especially in the last ten years, s when I saw this article I thought it would perfectly portray women and what they can do. After looking at the article though, however, I was shocked to see no photos of girls working in the field, or playing sports. This interested me because the references to Title IX and the waves of feminism would make anyone think we would see girls of different cultures, trans women, girls playing sports and working. However, after looking at the pictures in this section I was very confused because all the photos showed feminine girls in dresses and laughing, but there's a whole other realm of girls not included. Many people fight for women's rights and equality, especially in jobs in the STEM field, but this article does nothing to show women working at all. It only shows women in bathing suits or feminine clothing. It is just a shame that in 2018, people seem to think that one type of "girl" is the only type that there can be. That's why it interested me a load when I saw how much the pictures contradicted what the photographer was saying.

Regardless of what's implied by the settings and garb, and vacant expressions, the design , composition and color is enjoyable in its own right.

The work here is very strong, and should be open to interpretation by the viewer. Otherwise, there is a danger of turning this portfolio into to an "accessory" of the writer's ideas rather than the photographer's.

I didn't even read the article after looking at the pictures. All feminine women. No fire(wo)men. No line workers. No doctors, lawyers, astrophysicists. No women dressed in work shirts and boots. No butch women. No trans women. Hardly any women of color. And no women/girls playing sports despite the Title IX references. 2018. Still defining women by their feminine looks. Disappointing.

I think they are beautiful photos, they don't need props to explain femaleness. What I see is the connection between women..

The cover picture to this bothered me. It’s about portraying a girl dressed in a short skirt which sexualizes her and is not about equality. As long as women choose to work at places like Hooters and the like they will continue to be sexualized by some men. You may not like that, and neither do I, but reality is reality.

The photo 'Ice Cream Social' is wonderful, but how did the photographer get Queen Elizabeth 2nd to pose for it?

I have had no problem being a woman in my own right. Because no man sought to make me an accessory, or anything else.

This is so binary. It privileges biological females. Where are the trans? You've made them invisible.

Wonderful photographs !

Following in the footsteps of Little Women, where there is hardly a man to be seen. Louisa Alcott, 150 years ago, said it better.

These are lovely photos - but almost all of the girls & women are extremely gender conforming. This may seem like a petty thing to notice, but my daughter is a butch lesbian. She never had a "feminine identity" but has always been 100% female. See the difference? From ages 13 to almost 17 my daughter thought she must "really" be a "boy". She is not. She is a strong proud woman. She's just not feminine or interested in being feminine. She is a happy butch lesbian today, but I rarely see young women who look like her celebrated in the media. Thankfully, there is Rachel Maddow. But we need more Butch celebration. Please!

The 4th Wave concerned Wendy Shalit's "Girls Gone Mild" idea. That happened before the #MeToo movement. ---- I have been working-on the 5th Wave: "The Personal is Professional". That has not hit the population yet.... the World Population. I think that this 5th Wave should do it.

Not a lot of books, chemistry experiments, or differential calculus on display here.

Looking at the pictures I felt that they are, depressingly, shockingly, radical. Seeing girls and women in the world in their own right, existing, not in relation to men, is just not something that we usually see. I found the pictures amazing. The girls and women become powerful, luminary, and mythic.

This should be required reading for any who wish to immigrate to the US as a first step towards understanding the still relatively recent gain s for women in this country.

They seem well photographed. What they have to do with the headline, or the headline with them I couldn't say. Perhaps the full exhibit means a good deal more. I don't see anything in this photo selection particularly relevant to the first two paragraphs. Is this just poor photo selection? Tell me more. Rena Silverman in the article says, "Soccer moms couldn’t always drive their daughters to practice. It took Title IX, the 1972 federal law prohibiting gender-based discrimination in schools, to ensure that girls could play the same sports as boys. Yet even with that, after three waves of feminism — and arguably a fourth, with #MeToo — women are still battling to control their bodies and destinies. Growing up in the 1950s, Melissa Ann Pinney knew that all too well. She longed to be as important to her domineering father as her five brothers were. Unlike the three girls in her family, the boys were allowed to do sports and were treated as if they were more important." Which of these pictures is illustrative of that?

I find it ironic that the opening sentence of this article, which explores rejection of patriarchy and reclamation of femininity, uses one of the most stereotypical tropes of women that we have: "soccer moms". I get where you were going here, but it would have been so easy to choose a different word that doesn't immediately evoke dated stereotypes of stay-at-home moms whose only identity lies in the preferred sport of their children. Dads drive daughters to soccer practice, and so do working moms and grandparents and friends and neighbors and step-parents and siblings and public transit operators and so many others.

I'm a man! A woman has never been an accessory in my life! Please don't generalize, and add more fodder into this issue.

I have loved being a mother and now a grandmother and at no time did I feel being so was somehow being an "accessory " to a man. Nor did I feel so as a wife in either marriage (once divorced, once widowed). I had no desire to play sports when I was a child or teen - neither did most if my friends. Everyone hoped to be a cheerleader but did not consider that being an accessory to the boys on the football team. Heck, they were cheerleaders, each in the late 50's-early 60's so they were goddesses! I'm sorry Miss Pinney grew up in such a patriarchal family, but many - perhaps most - of us didn't and do not carry her scars. Most women my age ((mid 70's) have always quite enjoyed being a woman and did pretty much whatever we wanted in life. My own daughter has not seen barriers (and did participate in sports as it was actually required in her private school), and my granddaughter is a swimmer. Perhaps I only associate with confident women.

Terrific portraits, though a little more of an intellectual bent would have been welcome in the story since girls-women actually think of lots of stuff besides costumes...

Equal time probably is called for here. One really needs to appreciate how EXPENSIVE those "accessories" are to maintain. I mean … fair is fair.