Negotiating “Vulnerability” in a “Mobile” World: Tween Girls’ Dressing in Singapore and YouTube

Abstract

Often seen as a vulnerable group, tween girls fashioning themselves after adults have been a topic of significant concern. Public and academic discourse in the West has expressed worry that girls’ adult-like dressing may expose them to a range of physical, psychological and sexual harm. In most discussions on girls’ dressing, Western popular culture is also identified as one of the prevalent ways through which girls learn to how to fashion themselves after adults. It is claimed that Western television programmes, books and magazines encourage young girls to fashion themselves after adults at an earlier age. Recognising the importance of girls’ voices in their experiences of girlhood, this chapter draws exclusively on 12 focus groups, with 29 Singaporean girls aged 8–12. It finds that there are changing mediascapes in tween girls’ lives that have not been acknowledged. No longer predominantly watching television or browsing teen magazines, this chapter highlights how young Singaporean girls are now more likely to spend their time on the popular media platform YouTube. As girls gain mobility through their mobile communication devices, this chapter calls for a closer examination of YouTube in relation to girls’ dressing. Nonetheless, this chapter also acknowledges that while certain popular YouTube videos (re)produce highly narrow ideas of what a female should look or be like, it is not a simple issue of girls learning how to dress from their favourite YouTube stars. YouTubers also represented a lexicon of empowerment for some of the girls in this study.

Citation

Loh, B. (2019), "Negotiating “Vulnerability” in a “Mobile” World: Tween Girls’ Dressing in Singapore and YouTube", Forbes-Mewett, H. (Ed.) Vulnerability in a Mobile World, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 155-171. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-911-920191011