In this chapter from her book Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media, author Susan J. Douglas discusses the Girl Group bands of the early and mid-1960s. Some questions you might consider in writing your response to her essay are:
Why is Douglas writing about this particular topic?
What is the thesis (main point) of Douglas’s chapter?
What audience do you think Douglas is writing to? Does her audience affect the shape of her argument? Does it affect her writing style?
What groups, songs, and songwriters does Douglas discuss?
What kind of musical observation and detail does Douglas use to support her argument? Is her use of musical detail successful?
What do you think Douglas’s musical background is?
While Douglas is writing about Girl Groups, how can her argument and observations be applied to other kinds of music?
Sample Solution
