Relative Intimacy

Fathers, Adolescent Daughters, and Postwar American Culture

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Men&, Women&, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Relative Intimacy by Rachel Devlin, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Rachel Devlin ISBN: 9780807876329
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: March 8, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Rachel Devlin
ISBN: 9780807876329
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: March 8, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Celebrated as new consumers and condemned for their growing delinquencies, teenage girls emerged as one of the most visible segments of American society during and after World War II. Contrary to the generally accepted view that teenagers grew more alienated from adults during this period, Rachel Devlin argues that postwar culture fostered a father-daughter relationship characterized by new forms of psychological intimacy and tinged with eroticism.

According to Devlin, psychiatric professionals turned to the Oedipus complex during World War II to explain girls' delinquencies and antisocial acts. Fathers were encouraged to become actively involved in the clothing and makeup choices of their teenage daughters, thus domesticating and keeping under paternal authority their sexual maturation.

In Broadway plays, girls' and women's magazines, and works of literature, fathers often appeared as governing figures in their daughters' sexual coming of age. It became the common sense of the era that adolescent girls were fundamentally motivated by their Oedipal needs, dependent upon paternal sexual approval, and interested in their fathers' romantic lives. As Devlin demonstrates, the pervasiveness of depictions of father-adolescent daughter eroticism on all levels of culture raises questions about the extent of girls' independence in modern American society and the character of fatherhood during America's fabled embrace of domesticity in the 1940s and 1950s.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Celebrated as new consumers and condemned for their growing delinquencies, teenage girls emerged as one of the most visible segments of American society during and after World War II. Contrary to the generally accepted view that teenagers grew more alienated from adults during this period, Rachel Devlin argues that postwar culture fostered a father-daughter relationship characterized by new forms of psychological intimacy and tinged with eroticism.

According to Devlin, psychiatric professionals turned to the Oedipus complex during World War II to explain girls' delinquencies and antisocial acts. Fathers were encouraged to become actively involved in the clothing and makeup choices of their teenage daughters, thus domesticating and keeping under paternal authority their sexual maturation.

In Broadway plays, girls' and women's magazines, and works of literature, fathers often appeared as governing figures in their daughters' sexual coming of age. It became the common sense of the era that adolescent girls were fundamentally motivated by their Oedipal needs, dependent upon paternal sexual approval, and interested in their fathers' romantic lives. As Devlin demonstrates, the pervasiveness of depictions of father-adolescent daughter eroticism on all levels of culture raises questions about the extent of girls' independence in modern American society and the character of fatherhood during America's fabled embrace of domesticity in the 1940s and 1950s.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Nature's Champion by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book Good Guys with Guns by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book Making Home Work by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book Distilling the South by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book Hard Work Is Not Enough by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book A Thousand Thirsty Beaches by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book Strikebreaking and Intimidation by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book White Captives by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book The Loyal Republic by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book A More Civil War by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book The Corner of the Living by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book To Save the Land and People by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book Geographies of Liberation by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book The Transnational Mosque by Rachel Devlin
Cover of the book Moderates by Rachel Devlin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy