Where the Girls Are by Susan J. Douglas (1995, Paperback, Reprint)

This book is a fantastic historical account of gender representation across a variety of media. I bought it for a Women's Studies course I designed on Gender and Media. Douglas covers everything from Disney and Barbie to Roseanne and Charlie's Angels. The book is very well written and funny yet still academically sound. Douglas’ feminist analysis of popular culture is right on as she describes the disconnect between media and reality and the disconnect within media itself, what she describes as schizophrenia. Also intriguing is Douglas’ discussion of capitalism and advertising as patriarchal tools to contain feminist action. I highly recommend this book to students of media, popular culture, or gender studies. However, this book is also an excellent read for the non-scholar as well.