Wow, you were right! I do not like this Young-Girl idea. I don't really understand how you can gender something so outright, and then say, no, this isn't criticizing a gender. But I'm just a girl, what do I know?
Also, I feel you on the wanting some sort of "hope" when you're reading something that is meant to provide some sort of understanding of the world. I feel the same with scientific papers. If the whole thing is just doom and gloom, listing bad thing after bad thing, what really is the point? Why put so much effort in outlining all these problems if you're not going to offer some sort of solution? I may have drifted far from the Young-Girl theory, but basically, I think wanting an upside or solution is a valid criticism.
Loving the substack format! Keep it up :) Also loving the Ariana video ;)
Great post. Reminds me of this film analysis of the "woman child" trope and comparing it with the pervasive "man child" trope. I wonder if the points raised in this book (Young-Girl is center of capitalist culture) help explain why we find it so natural to want to avoid growing up or stay "Young-Girl" into adulthood. I also think that looking at this through the film medium does provide a bit more "hope" or "redemption" than what was described in the book, but misses some of the interesting takes on ideology (loved the void image btw). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD1eOBBhEmk
I really like this take! I've seen a lot of people dismiss it entirely as misogynistic and those reviews are hard to take seriously as, like you said, I see a lot of myself in this book and take a lot of the criticism as diagnostic of my own void rather than accusative. It does totally lack empathy, I agree. I think it is largely because I don't think the Young-Girl is meant to be seen as any human person, rather an archetype so many seem to be hoping to embody, though we almost all fail to do so in its entirety. We sometimes act as we think the Young-Girl would, but none of us is ever truly empty. Only the non-human could truly achieve that. The Young-Girl is not a stand in for young girls, but rather the kind of superficial end goal we seem to be ushered towards, which we must learn to earnestly and thoughtfully unpack and turn away from.
Wow, you were right! I do not like this Young-Girl idea. I don't really understand how you can gender something so outright, and then say, no, this isn't criticizing a gender. But I'm just a girl, what do I know?
Also, I feel you on the wanting some sort of "hope" when you're reading something that is meant to provide some sort of understanding of the world. I feel the same with scientific papers. If the whole thing is just doom and gloom, listing bad thing after bad thing, what really is the point? Why put so much effort in outlining all these problems if you're not going to offer some sort of solution? I may have drifted far from the Young-Girl theory, but basically, I think wanting an upside or solution is a valid criticism.
Loving the substack format! Keep it up :) Also loving the Ariana video ;)
Great post. Reminds me of this film analysis of the "woman child" trope and comparing it with the pervasive "man child" trope. I wonder if the points raised in this book (Young-Girl is center of capitalist culture) help explain why we find it so natural to want to avoid growing up or stay "Young-Girl" into adulthood. I also think that looking at this through the film medium does provide a bit more "hope" or "redemption" than what was described in the book, but misses some of the interesting takes on ideology (loved the void image btw). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD1eOBBhEmk
I really like this take! I've seen a lot of people dismiss it entirely as misogynistic and those reviews are hard to take seriously as, like you said, I see a lot of myself in this book and take a lot of the criticism as diagnostic of my own void rather than accusative. It does totally lack empathy, I agree. I think it is largely because I don't think the Young-Girl is meant to be seen as any human person, rather an archetype so many seem to be hoping to embody, though we almost all fail to do so in its entirety. We sometimes act as we think the Young-Girl would, but none of us is ever truly empty. Only the non-human could truly achieve that. The Young-Girl is not a stand in for young girls, but rather the kind of superficial end goal we seem to be ushered towards, which we must learn to earnestly and thoughtfully unpack and turn away from.