Chapters 5 and 6 focus on the ways in which Seventeen constructed adolescent girl relationships to family and
marriage. In what ways did Seventeen encourage readers to commit to consumerism by being committed to
the public sphere (family life)?
Previously in our course (in the Global Perspectives on Defining and Enacting Race unit), we have discussed
the notion that certain childhoods have been normalized and marginalized in Western cultures (i.e., white,
middle-class, heterosexual, Judeo-Christian childhoods are considered “childhood”, while non-white, nonmiddle-class, gender fluid, and non-Christian forms of childhood are “othered” and considered alternate
childhoods rather than evidence as forms of cultural or bio-diversity). Now that you have read the entire book,
can you locate evidence of the normalizing of certain aspects of childhood/adolescence through the production
of Seventeen magazine? If so, list and describe three examples. Can you think of other media examples where
this is happening today, and/or where this is being challenged?