Britney, Beyoncé, and me – primary school girls’ role models and constructions of the ‘popular’ girl

Abstract

This paper looks at the ways in which the gendered social construction of the ‘popular girl’ infuses girls’ ideas as to their role models: those representing who they would like to be when they ‘grow up’. It will look at the ways in which the gendered characteristics that are seen to be of most value to girls (often embodied by ‘celebrities’ such as Britney and Beyoncé) often reflect socially dominant constructions of femininity. These characteristics can in some ways be seen to emphasise passivity rather than agency and power – for an example in an emphasis on attractiveness and appearance rather than activity and accomplishments. However, such desired characteristics are also those considered to characterise the ‘popular’ girl at school – a position of power and influence amongst girls’ peers. Therefore such desires are complexly located within both the constraints of hegemonic femininities and the dynamics of power relations between girls themselves.

Keywords:

• gender
• girls
• popularity
• femininity
• role models
• celebrity

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers of a previous draft of this paper for their very insightful and useful comments.

Notes

1. It is recognised that the concept of ‘role models’ is based on ‘social learning’ and ‘sex roles’ theories which see a somewhat uncomplicated process of identification and emulation on the part of children with particular adults (see Hutchings et al. 2008). I would agree with critics of this position that gender and other aspects of identity are constantly shifting and changing, rather than containing the fixities that the concept of ‘role models’ implies. The term is only used here as a ‘shorthand’ for the answers our participants gave at a particular ‘snapshot’ in space/time, to our questions concerning who they would like to be like when they ‘grow up’.

2. RES‐000‐23‐0624 – ‘Investigating Gender as a Factor in Primary Pupil–Teacher Relations and Perceptions’. The team members were Merryn Hutchings and Barbara Read at London Metropolitan University, Bruce Carrington and Ian Hall at the University of Newcastle, and Becky Francis and Christine Skelton at Roehampton University.

3. Interestingly, Beyoncé herself seems to simultaneously play with, and distance her ‘real’ self from, such stereotypical constructions with her onstage persona of ‘Sasha Fierce’: ‘SASHA FIERCE is my alter ego’, says Beyoncé, ‘and now she has a last name. I have someone else that takes over when it’s time for me to work and when I’m on stage, this alter ego that I’ve created that kind of protects me and who I really am. That’s why half the record, I AM…, is about who I am underneath all the makeup, underneath the lights, and underneath all the exciting star drama. And SASHA FIERCE is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side’ (Beyoncé n.d.)