Bobby Sox by Kelly Schrum

¶ … Bobby Sox by Kelly Schrum The book Some Wore Bobby Sox by Kelly Schrum is a very insightful and lively work that explores both the growth of the teenage market and the way that teenage girls' identities were emerging before World War II took place. During that time period, not that much information has really been addressed about what took place, but some scholars continue to work with it.

Research into these kinds of issues has been going on for some time and includes things like American popular culture, girlhood studies, and consumer culture. Not everyone, though, thinks that much about teenage culture, especially from a feminine perspective. Because Kelly Schrum uses so many different sources in her book, the work is a much more convincing examination of teenage culture and females beginning in the 1920s and going all the way through the 1930s and 1940s.

There is a lot of insight to the book, and it addresses historical issues much more clearly than most other books that deal with the same or similar issues during that time period. Among the historical issues seen during that time was how teenagers used the consumer market that was evolving as a way to fashion both their individual identities and a collective one, and how various interests - including commercial ones - worked to direct and try to contain many young women.

Women were just coming into their power during that time from a feminist perspective, and they were gaining more and more rights. Because of that, women were doing some things behind the scenes and changing some of their opinions quietly. The study of this group is very illuminating and gives much insight into people who had their lives shaped strongly by consumer interests and a coming of age that took place in one of the most interesting times in history.

For those who are interested in the field of cultural studies where women and girls are concerned, this book is one that will be very helpful to them. When most people think of American popular culture during the 1950s when it comes to teenage girls they see sock-hop dances and poodle skirts. This is certainly part of an accurate depiction, but there was much else going on. In addition, girls were getting involved in fashion and paying attention to pop idols much earlier than the 1950s.

The real teenage identity within America began showing up after World War I and continued to grow. A culture of consumerism quickly followed it. Beauty and fashion was a lot of that culture, but movies and music soon became part of it as well. Retailers, marketers, and manufacturers influenced the teen girls' culture, and that culture conversely influenced what manufacturers, marketers, and retailers offered to those girls.

Schrum, in her book, looks at not only the trends that were seen across the nation but the individual lives of some of these people as well. The ability that these girls had to accept or reject what society was trying to give them from a marketing standpoint is an important issue that needed to be addressed. As World War II loomed and then passed, much of what women wanted and how they were defined changed. Most of what Schrum talks about is feminism, at least to a degree.

Feminism, women's liberation, or the women's movement - whatever people choose to call it, it has been an important issue for Schrum and for a lot of other individuals as well. For one thing, it helped women to come into more power back in the 1920s. That is not to say they had political power, but only that they were beginning to be more liberated and speak out on things that they normally would not have. Traditionally, women kept silent and did what they were told.

In the 1920s a new attitude began to spread through the female community and women became a little closer to being equal. With women's liberation, women got into the workforce in a big way. One of the reasons that states began to do something about this issue and others, such as domestic violence, was the second wave of feminism that began a few years later as a reform movement. In between those two movements there were the teenage girls who were just coming into their own.

Girls faced many different conditions and growing pains throughout the 1920s, '30s, and 40s, leading to the disillusionment that was so important to the development of feminism. Some of the teenage culture and the way it changed - through movies, music, and retailers, led to much of this disillusionment. When people hear the word 'feminist' they almost always automatically think of hippie women burning their bras. However, the feminists who existed during the time that Schrum's book is concerned with were very different from that kind of stereotype.

These feminists probably would not have even seen themselves as such, and they were much quieter than their more radical counterparts who developed in later years. They were interested in seeing that women achieved some equality, instead of being treated like second-class citizens. They knew, and had known for some time, that they were capable of basically everything that a man was capable of. However, they also knew that men ran society and that men did not agree with their assessment of their abilities.

They were still seen as 'the weaker sex.' Since that time studies have actually shown that women live longer, are more resistant to disease, and have a higher pain tolerance than men do. In early years, though, none of that was realized, and it would not have been believed even if it had been proven.

The teenage girls who grew up during the time period that Schrum discusses showed not only that they could be influenced by culture, but also that they could influence culture, and that indicated that they had - and were still gaining - more power than they thought that they had. Schrum does a good job of showcasing this while also not turning the book into what would be considered a work on feminism.

This is important because it helps to bring across the cultural information without inundating it with issues that some people might be sensitive about. When people traditionally think about the United States in the era after World War II, not all of them think about teenagers. However, the teen demographic - and specifically the teen girl demographic - was very strong during that time.

It was both a metaphoric and a demographic focal point for a lot of people, and with television and rock and roll the consumer culture was expanding rapidly. That is one of the main things that Schrum emphasizes throughout the book, is that the teenage culture that was so pervasive and just under the surface of society really had a lot to do with the changes that were occurring in society as a whole. Not that many people, though, would attribute a changing society to teenage girls.

Even though they were having a significant impact on the direction of the country, at least culturally, they were still largely being ignored. Other reasons were being cited for the changes that were occurring. Girls caused a lot of changes throughout a lot of history. Schrum makes that point by showing how much society evolved culturally since marketers, manufacturers, and retailers started focusing on young girls and women.

Naturally there are other groups of people who are also important and who should not be ignored, but females had been held back culturally for many years before they started having their voices discreetly and then more loudly heard by not only retailers and marketers but by others as well. The cultural issues that came along with this changed things for women and the changes continue today.

It is surprising that something as seemingly simple as marketing to teenagers and listening to them could change the world, but it actually did. Schrum wants to make sure that these young women who grew up during that time period got the credit that they deserved for the impact that they had on society during their early lives. One of the issues that gets credited to young women and teenagers around that particular period of time is the change that took place in gender roles.

The traditional gender roles that many people were used to began to change around that period of time and are still changing rapidly, thanks to the work of 'feminists of all types' - work that is still continuing in the present day, but at a more subdued level.

Not everyone thinks that these teenage girls were feminists, and they might not have even called themselves that or thought much about it, but they definitely had values and beliefs that were consistent with wanting to come into their own and make changes. They wanted to be heard and they wanted options and choices, which they finally began to receive. Most of all, they wanted to live, and that was evidenced through their choices in things like movies and music.

A lot of the older generation during that time objected to the changes that society was making, though, because they saw rock and roll music as vulgar and felt that young people were growing up too fast and without the right kinds of morals and values that the previous generation had going for it. Another thing that changed with the way that society viewed young women and teenage girls was the concept of work.

The concepts of 'women's work' and 'men's work' are no longer as strong as they used to be, and those teenage girls of the 1950s deserve part of the credit for that. For example, there are men that are full-time, stay-at-home 'moms,' and there are women who work in construction, drive tractor trailers, and perform other masculine occupations. These individuals are still in the minority, but.