Girl Reviews

Our Girl Reviews showcases blogs that discuss how girls are portrayed in and impacted by books, movies, television shows, live performances, museums and exhibits, games, and products.

Feel free to comment and share your thoughts about these reviews.  If you would like to submit a review, email us your name, country, and a 250-750 word review discussing how that media, museum exhibit, or product portrays and impacts girls.

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Barbie Comes to London: Design Museum Exhibition Review

Barbie Comes to London: Design Museum Exhibition Review

The original 1959 Barbie on display. Photo by Scarlett Evans. The world descended into Barbie-mania last year, with Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated film starring the leggy blonde doll who’s been the staple of children’s homes since the 1950s. It seemed you couldn’t...

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Eve: A Review

Eve: A Review

Thoughts on Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. Cat Bohannon was a life-drawing model. She seemed to enjoy it. It was money and she used it not just to be observed unclothed, but to observe those who were drawing her. I could write...

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Gender Expression in Art: Seeing Gender Exhibition

Gender Expression in Art: Seeing Gender Exhibition

Seeing Gender exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Image source: Asian Art Museum San Francisco On a rainy Sunday afternoon in September, I finally got the chance to visit the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The "Seeing Gender" exhibition,...

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Book Review: Pizza Girl, by Jean Kyoung Frazier

Book Review: Pizza Girl, by Jean Kyoung Frazier

It was a hot summer's day, I was on the London tube sweating and running for my train with an inconvenient suitcase dragging at my heels. I was one stop away from Kings Cross station and this book caught my eye. It had been left on the tube (not an unusual thing in...

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OK to not always be OK

OK to not always be OK

Well, here I am again, not knowing what to write for a Staff Rant. So many things swirling in my brain, but trying to grab just one of them is as fruitless as trying to grab a wisp of a cloud. They just flit away, mocking me intensely. If you’re thinking this...

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Girl Pictures: the Unknowable Teenage Girl

Girl Pictures: the Unknowable Teenage Girl

"Boy Torture: the Two-Headed Monster" (1999) by Justine Kurland from the series Girl Pictures When imagining girlhood in a rather vague sense, what comes to mind is plastic. Plastic dolls, plastic pink crowns and shoes and jewelry. A stiff neon interpretation colored...

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TV Review: The Strong Women of Jane the Virgin

TV Review: The Strong Women of Jane the Virgin

The three Villanueva women sit together on a bench that is a staple setting for conversation. It is a rare thing to come across very potent storytelling for girls and women, although, less rare than it once was. My teen-girlhood was marked by a deep immersion into...

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Media Review: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century

Media Review: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century

Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century This weekend my roommate and I were scrolling through Disney+, when we stumbled upon a childhood favorite of both of ours: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. I distinctly remember watching the trilogy in the early 2000s, and I...

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Book Review: A Guide To Crushing Girlhood: Feminist AF

Book Review: A Guide To Crushing Girlhood: Feminist AF

Where to start? I guess with saying that A Guide To Crushing Girlhood: Feminist AF, by Brittney Cooper, Chanel Craft Tanner, and Susana Morris, is a phenomenal book that I would recommend ALL girls to read.  This book is a practical guide for feminists (and wannabe...

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Movie Review: Center Stage (2000)

Movie Review: Center Stage (2000)

Center Stage is a film, released in 2000, that follows the lives of a group of dancers in their first year at the American Ballet Academy in New York City. As well as the fact it features one of the most iconic finale dance numbers ever (in my opinion), there are...

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Movie Review: Ladies in Black

Movie Review: Ladies in Black

Magda (Julia Ormond) with the young Australian teen, Lisa (Angourie Rice). The power of strong female figures is undeniable in instilling courage in young girls to break our expected roles in society. Set in the late 1950s Sydney, Ladies in Black is an Australian...

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Book Review: Mightier Than The Sword

Book Review: Mightier Than The Sword

Mightier Than The Sword: Rebels, Reformers and Revolutionaries Who Changed The World Through Writing is a quick and fun read that beautifully balances education and entertainment. This children’s/middle grade book is a compilation of biographies from 40 people...

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TV Review: Friday Night Lights – Season 3, Episode 1

TV Review: Friday Night Lights – Season 3, Episode 1

Adrianne Palicki starred as Tyra Collette on Friday Night Lights. I initially thought that Friday Night Lights was a show just about high school football in small town America, and while the sport is central to the series, the show is about so much more. In the very...

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TV Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

TV Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy. On March 10th 1997, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the cult fantasy drama created by Joss Whedon and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, debuted. Despite being over two decades old, the series is still as influential as ever. It ran for seven...

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