The invariant subject is The Girl in Trouble, even if The Girl herself does not always know it. In Barbie-doll garments, in the suburbs or at the beach or in the city, The Girl is always alone, waiting, worried, watchful, but she is wary of, waiting for, worried about, and her very posture and expression phenomenologically imply The Other: the Stalker, the Saver, the Evil and Good who struggle for her possession. She is the Girl Detective; she is America's Sweetheart; she is the Girl We Left Behind, soft and fluttering in a world of hard menace: the Young Housewife, pretty in her apron, threatened in her kitchen Cindy Starlet, Daddy's Brave Girl, The Whore with the Golden Heart, Somebody's Stenog, Girl Friday with obstacles to meet, enemies to overcome, eyes to lift the scales from, hard hearts to soften, the Kid in the Chorus, love light burning in her big, big eyes, with a smile for everyone, a kind word for all, not a mean bone in her body, The Girl Next Door, Everyman's Dream of Happiness.
"the cultural construction of femininity" - Eleanor Heartney
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