Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Understanding the Local, Social Worlds of Pre-teens

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Childhood and Tween Girl Culture

Part of the book series: Studies in Childhood and Youth ((SCY))

  • 647 Accesses

Abstract

In marketing circles the label ‘tween’ speak volumes. Not surprisingly though as the 9–14-year-old girls targeted by this consumer-media market are responsible for $ billions in global sales. This gendered phenomenon has created a fantasy world where ‘girlness’ is inherently entwined with consumption ,and the prodigious nature of tween girl culture has created the perception that the marketing persona of tween exists beyond its commercial entity. In this chapter I introduce 13 pre-teen girls as I explore the emergence of tween girl culture and consider how the consumer-media targets the desires of pre-teen girls. I consider the ambiguous place of in-betweenness the girls inhabit, no longer identifying themselves as children but not yet teenagers. The significance of belonging for these girls is introduced as I consider the social meaning behind the girls’ consumption activities. Pugh’s (2009) concept, the ‘economy of dignity’ enables me to consider how pre-teen girls’ meaning making is considered and negotiated in their own local, social worlds.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Australian Institute of Family Studies. 2010. The Modern Family: Look How We’ve Changed, AIFS, viewed 23 Sep 2010. www.aifs.gov.au/institute/media/media/100706.html.

  • Australian Psychological Association. 2007. Helping Girls Develop a Positive Self Image, a Tip Sheet for Parents of Girls of All Ages, APA, viewed 11 Oct 2007. www.psychology.org.au/publications/tip_sheets/girls_positive_image/.

  • Brookes, F., and P. Kelly. 2009. Dolly Girls: Tweenies as Artefacts of Consumption. Youth Studies Australia 28(4): 599–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckingham, D. 2000. After the Death of Childhood: Growing up in the Age of Electronic Media. Malden MA: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. The Material Child: Growing up in Consumer Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Central YMCA. 2016. A World of Good: The Challenge of Being Young in Modern Britain 2016, viewed 18 Feb 2016. www.ymca.co.uk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centre for Adolescent Health, The Royal Children’s Hospital. 2008. School Climate, viewed 15 Aug 2010. www.rch.org.au/cah/research.

  • Chan, K., B. Tufte, G. Cappello, and R. Williams. 2011. “Tween Girls” Perception of Gender Roles and Gender Identities: A Qualitative Study. Young Consumers 12(1): 66–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canadian Women’s Health Network. 2016. Helping Your Daughter to Have a Healthy Body Image, CWHN, viewed 19 Mar 2016. http://www.cwhn.ca/node/40786.

  • Cook, D. 2004a. Beyond either/or. Journal of Consumer Culture 4(2): 147–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004b. The Commodification of Childhood. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, D., and S. Kaiser. 2004. Betwixt and Be Tween. Journal of Consumer Culture 4(3): 203–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll, C. 2005. Girl-Doll: Barbie as Puberty Manual. In Seven Going on Seventeen: Tween Stories in the Culture of Girlhood, ed. C. Mitchell, and J. Reid-Walsh. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008. Girls Today: Girls, Girls Culture and Girl Studies. Girlhood Studies 1(1): 13–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durham, M. 1998. Dilemmas of Desire: Representations of Adolescent Sexuality in Two Teen Magazines. Youth & Society 29(3): 369–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finders, M. 1997. Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior High. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • George, R. 2007. Girls in a Goldfish Bowl: Moral Regulation, Ritual and the Use of Power Amongst Inner City Girls. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Getmemedia. 2013. Market Summary—Advertising to Teenagers and Tweens, Getmemedia, viewed 21 Sep 2013. http://www.getmemedia.com/DB/audience-insight/advertising-to-teenagers-and-tweens.html.

  • Girlguiding. 2015. ‘Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2015’, viewed 19 Mar 2016. http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/pdf/GAS_15_website.pdf.

  • Government Equalities Office UK. 2013. Body Confidence Campaign: Progress Report 2013, viewed 21 Feb 2016. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/203405/130501_body_confidence_progress_reportv03.pdf.

  • Hales, J. 2007. Tween Kicks: Targeting Tween Girls who’ve Outgrown Childish Things can be an Opportunity for Fashion and Accessories Retailers in the UK. License! 10(4): 28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, M. 2008. What’s Happening to Our Girls. Melbourne: Viking, Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamm, J., and B. Faircloth. 2005. The Role of Friendship in Adolescents’ Sense of School Belonging. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 107(Spring): 61–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, A. 2004. Future Girl: Young Women in the Twenty-First Centre. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. In a Girlie World: Tweenies in Australia. In Seven going on Seventeen: Tween Studies in the Culture of Girlhood, ed. C. Mitchell, and J. Reid-Walsh. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hey, V. 1997. The Company She Keeps: An Ethnography of Girls’ Friendships. Buckingham UK: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway, S., and G. Valentine (ed). 2000. Children’s Geographies and the New Social Studies of Childhood. Oxon UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins, S. 2002. Girl Heroes: The New Force in Popular Culture. Sydney: Pluto Press Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, S., and E. Westrupp. 2010. Sex, Postfeminist Popular Culture and the Pre-teen Girl. Sexualities 13(3): 357–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kehily, M.J. 2004. Girls and Sexuality: Continuities and Change for Girls in School. In All About the Girl, Power, Culture and Identity, ed. A. Harris. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2009. Children, Young People and Sexuality. In Children and Young People’s Worlds, Developing Frameworks for Integrated Practice, ed. H. Montgomery, and M. Kellett. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2012, May. Contextualising the Sexualisation of Girls Debate: Innocence, Experience and Young Female Sexuality. Gender and Education 24(3):255–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kehily, M.J, and A. Nayak. 2008, September. Global femininities: consumption, culture and the significance of place. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 29(3):325–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenway, J., and E. Bullen. 2001. Consuming Children: Education-Entertainment-Advertising. Buckingham UK: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kline, S. 1993. Out of the Garden: Toys, TV and Children’s Culture in the Age of Marketing. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, S., and L. Brown. 2006. Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers Schemes. New York: St Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langer, B. 2005. Children: The Consumer Generation. In Family: Changing Families, changing Times, ed. M. Poole. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindsay, J., and J.M. Maher. 2013. Consuming Families: Buying, Making, Producing Family Life in the 21st Century. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linn, S. 2005. Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the Onslaught of Marketing and Advertising. New York: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lundby, E. 2013. ‘You can’t buy friends, but …’ Children’s Perception of Consumption and Friendship. Young Consumers 14(4): 360–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marketing Profs. 2012, viewed 20 Jan 2016. www.marketingprofs.com.

  • McDonnell, K. 2006. Honey, We Lost the Kids: Re-thinking Childhood in the Multimedia Age, revised edn. North Melbourne: Pluto Press Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • McRobbie, A. 2008. Young Women and Consumer Culture. Cultural Studies 22(5): 531–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mission Australia. 2010. National Survey of Young Australians 2010, Key and Emerging Issues, viewed 10 July 2011. www.missionaustralia.com.au/downloads/national-survey-of-young-australians/271-2010.

  • National Children’s Bureau UK. 2012. Reflections on Body Image: All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image & Central YMCA, NCB, viewed 29 Mar 2016. http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/861233/appg_body_image_final.pdf.

  • Nayak, A. 2003. Race, Place and Globalization: Youth Cultures in a Changing World. Oxford UK: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nayak, A., and M. Kehily. 2013. Gender, Youth & Culture: Global Masculinities & Femininities, Second edn. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • NSW Commission for Children and Young People. 2005. A World Fit for Children: June Summary Report, viewed 14 June 2010. www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eca_ctte/sexualisation_of_children/report/index.html.

  • Phillips, D. 1999. ‘tween BEAT’, Entrepreneur Vol. 27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomerantz, S. 2008. Girls, Style, and School Identities: Dressing the Part. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Poole, M. 2005. Changing Families, Changing Times. In Family: Changing Families, Changing Times, ed. M. Poole. Sydney: Allex & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Public Health Agency of Canada. 2011. The Health and Well-being of Canadian Youth and Young Adults, The Chief Public Health Officer’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada, 2011, viewed 10 Feb 2016. http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/cphorsphc-respcacsp/2011/cphorsphc-respcacsp-06-eng.php.

  • Pugh, A. 2009. Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children and Consumer Culture. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renold, E. 2005. Girls, Boys and Junior Sexualities: Exploring Childrens’ Gender and Sexual Relations in the Primary School. Abingdon Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renold, E., J. Ringrose, and R.D. Egan. 2015. Children, Sexuality and Sexualization. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rush, E, and A. La Nauze. 2006. The Australia Institute, Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of Children in Australia, Discussion Paper Number 90, viewed 28 Feb 2016. http://www.tai.org.au/documents/dp_fulltext/DP90.pdf.

  • Russell, R., and M. Tyler. 2002. Thank Heaven for Little Girls: Girl Heaven and the Commercial Context of Feminine Childhoood. Sociology 35(3): 619–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, F., and M. Tyler. 2005. Branding and Bricolage: Gender Consumption and Transition. Childhood 12: 221–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schor, J. 2005. Born to Buy. New York: Schribner.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seiter, E. 1993. Sold Separately: Children and Parents in Consumer Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Senate. 2008. Sexualisation of Children in the Contemporary Media, viewed 21 Feb 2009. http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/eca_ctte/sexualisation_of_children/report/report.pdf.

  • Thorne, B. 1993. Gender Play: Girls and Boys at School. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. 1989. Convention on the Rights of the Child, United Nations, viewed 21 Feb 2016. http://www.un.org/.

  • Wyn, J., S. Lantz, and A. Harris. 2012. Beyond the ‘Transitions’ Metaphor: Family Relations and Young People in Late Modernity. Journal of Sociology 48(3): 3–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zaslow, E. 2009. Feminism, Inc.: Coming of Age in Girl Power Media Culture. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Fiona MacDonald

  2. Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Fiona MacDonald

Authors
  1. Fiona MacDonald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

MacDonald, F. (2016). Understanding the Local, Social Worlds of Pre-teens. In: Childhood and Tween Girl Culture. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55130-6_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55130-6_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55129-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55130-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation