Girl next door
Encyclopedia
The cultural and sexual stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

 of the girl next door or the All-American girl is invoked in American contexts to indicate wholesome, unassuming femininity
Femininity
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with girls and women. Though socially constructed, femininity is made up of both socially defined and biologically created factors...

, as opposed to the culture's other female stereotypes such as the tomboy
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...

, the valley girl
Valley girl
Valley Girl is a stereotype leveled at a socio-economic and ethnic class of American women who can be described as colloquial English-speaking and materialistic...

, the femme fatale
Femme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...

, girly girl
Girly girl
Girly girl is a slang term for a girl or woman who chooses to dress and behave in a traditionally feminine style, such as wearing dresses, blouses and skirts, and talking about relationships and other activities which are associated with the traditional gender role of a girl.-History:The term is...

, or the slut
Slut
Slut or slattern is a pejorative term applied to an individual who is considered to have loose sexual morals or who is sexually promiscuous...

. The male equivalent is the "boy next door
Boy next door
The boy next door is an archetype of storytelling. He is often invoked in Western contexts to indicate wholesome, unassuming, or "average" masculinity. He is a young man with a sweet, shy demeanor who is just discovering his physical and spiritual strengths. The boy next door maintains his innocent...

". Both gender examples of the "Next Door" archetype are quintessentially addressed with Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...

's Our Town
Our Town
Our Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...

in the characters of Emily Webb and George Gibbs or in Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St...

series within the characters of Tom Sawyer
Tom Sawyer
Thomas "Tom" Sawyer is the title character of the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . He appears in three other novels by Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Tom Sawyer Abroad , and Tom Sawyer, Detective .Sawyer also appears in at least three unfinished Twain works, Huck and Tom...

 and Becky Thatcher.

During World War II, American propaganda
American propaganda during World War II
During World War II, American propaganda was used to increase support for the war and commitment to an Allied victory. Using a wide variety of media, propagandists fomented hatred for the enemy and support for America's allies, urged greater public effort for war production and victory gardens,...

 often invoked her as the symbol of all things American. Songs on force request programs were not of Rosie the Riveter but of the girls who were waiting for soldiers. Many such songs were also popular at the home front. Themes of love, loneliness and separation were given more poignancy by the war.

Examples

  • Carolina
  • Britney Spears
    Britney Spears
    Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

     in her "Sometimes
    Sometimes (Britney Spears song)
    "Sometimes" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, taken from her debut studio album ...Baby One More Time . Written by Jörgen Elofsson and produced by Per Magnusson and David Krueger, the song was released as Spears' second single on April 30, 1999 by Jive Records...

    " video.
  • Gwen Cooper
    Gwen Cooper
    Gwen Cooper is a fictional character in the BBC television programme Torchwood, a spin-off to the long-running show Doctor Who, portrayed by Welsh actress Eve Myles. The series' lead female character, Gwen has featured in every episode of the sci-fi programme to date as well as two crossover...

    , as she is introduced in Torchwood
    Torchwood
    Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...

    .
  • Emily Jones (Elizabeth Banks
    Elizabeth Banks
    Elizabeth Maresal Mitchell , known professionally as Elizabeth Banks, is an American actress. Banks had her film debut in the low-budget independent film Surrender Dorothy...

    ) in Definitely, Maybe
    Definitely, Maybe
    Definitely, Maybe is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Adam Brooks, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin and Kevin Kline.-Plot:...

  • Mary Jane Watson
    Mary Jane Watson
    Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...

     (Kirsten Dunst
    Kirsten Dunst
    Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...

    ) in the 2000s Spider-Man trilogy
  • Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Minogue
    Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...

     in her "I Should Be So Lucky
    I Should Be So Lucky
    "I Should Be So Lucky" is a pop-dance song performed by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. The song was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman for Minogue's debut album Kylie .The song was released as the album's second single in December 1987...

    " video.
  • Christina Aguilera
    Christina Aguilera
    Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

     in her music videos Genie in a Bottle
    Genie in a Bottle
    "Genie in a Bottle" is the second single by American pop recording artist, Christina Aguilera, taken from her self-titled debut album. It was co-written by David Frank, Steve Kipner, and Pamela Sheyne, and produced by Frank and Kipner respectively...

     and What a Girl Wants
    What a Girl Wants
    What a Girl Wants may refer to:*"What a Girl Wants" , a 1999 song by Christina Aguilera*What a Girl Wants , a 2003 film starring Amanda Bynes*"What a Girl Wants" , the fourth single by Boy band B2K...

    .
  • Penny
    Penny (The Big Bang Theory)
    Penny is a fictional character on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory, portrayed by American actress Kaley Cuoco.Penny is the main female character on the show. She is Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper's neighbor across the hallway, and the main love interest of Leonard...

     (Kaley Cuoco
    Kaley Cuoco
    Kaley Christine Cuoco is an American film and television actress. She first came to attention for her role as Bridget Hennessy on the Emmy Award-winning sitcom 8 Simple Rules. She later starred as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the supernatural drama series Charmed...

    ) in The Big Bang Theory
    The Big Bang Theory
    The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...

  • Taylor Swift
    Taylor Swift
    Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...

     in her "You Belong With Me
    You Belong with Me
    "You Belong with Me" is a country pop song performed by American recording artist Taylor Swift. The song was co-written by Swift and Liz Rose and produced by Nathan Chapman with Swift's aid. It was released on April 21, 2009, by Big Machine Records as the third single from Swift's second studio...

    " music video.

See also

  • All-American (disambiguation)
    All-American (disambiguation)
    All-American usually refers to an honorary sports team.All-American may also refer to:* All-American, a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe* All American, a musical by Mel Brooks...

  • Boy next door
    Boy next door
    The boy next door is an archetype of storytelling. He is often invoked in Western contexts to indicate wholesome, unassuming, or "average" masculinity. He is a young man with a sweet, shy demeanor who is just discovering his physical and spiritual strengths. The boy next door maintains his innocent...

  • Girly girl
    Girly girl
    Girly girl is a slang term for a girl or woman who chooses to dress and behave in a traditionally feminine style, such as wearing dresses, blouses and skirts, and talking about relationships and other activities which are associated with the traditional gender role of a girl.-History:The term is...

  • Ingenue
    Ingenue (stock character)
    See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...

  • Yamato Nadeshiko
    Yamato Nadeshiko
    is a Japanese term meaning "personification of an idealized Japanese woman", "ideal" in the historical context of the patriarchal, traditional culture of Japan...


Further reading

  • Deborah Jermyn, "Death of the Girl Next Door": Celebrity, Femininity, and Tragedy in the Murder of Jill Dando, Feminist Media Studies, Vol. 1 No. 3 (Nov. 2001)
  • Michael Levine, Feeling For Buffy — The Girl Next Door in Michael Levine and Steven Schneider, Buffy and Philosophy, Open Court Press 2003
  • Frank Rich
    Frank Rich
    Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...

    , Journal: The Girl Next Door, New York Times, Feb. 20, 1994
  • Michael Walker, SHE SPITS ON THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, Los Angeles Times
    Los Angeles Times
    The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

    , Feb. 6, 1994
  • Elizabeth Wurtzel
    Elizabeth Wurtzel
    Elizabeth Lee Wurtzel is an American corporate attorney, writer and journalist, known for her work in the confessional memoir genre. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.-Early life:...

    , Women: Read my lips: Are you a girl next door or a second wife?, The Guardian
    The Guardian
    The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

    , Dec. 22, 1998
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