Sarah Hentges is an associate professor of American studies at the University of Maine at Augusta. She also teaches women’s and gender studies and maintains a blog and website at www.cultureandmovement.com.

“directs attention to the many adolescent experiences that are not represented in mainstream titles...evokes meaningful questions about female empowerment in the cinema...an extensive examination of ‘coming of age’ films portraying teenage girls”—Film and History.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Preface      Part I. American Adolescence: Girls’ Mainstream Terrain1. Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality and Citizenship: A Possessive Investment in the Mainstream      2. Coming of Age Narratives: Some Mainstream Contours      Part II. Negotiating American Culture: Traversing Our Own Paths3. Oppositional Power and Empowerment: Girls’ Experiences from the Margins      4. Sex and Sexuality: Negotiating Structures, Constructing Alternatives      Conclusion: An American Coming of Age      Filmography      Bibliography      Index

Sarah Hentges is an associate professor of American studies at the University of Maine at Augusta. She also teaches women’s and gender studies and maintains a blog and website at www.cultureandmovement.com.

“directs attention to the many adolescent experiences that are not represented in mainstream titles...evokes meaningful questions about female empowerment in the cinema...an extensive examination of ‘coming of age’ films portraying teenage girls”—Film and History.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Preface      Part I. American Adolescence: Girls’ Mainstream Terrain1. Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality and Citizenship: A Possessive Investment in the Mainstream      2. Coming of Age Narratives: Some Mainstream Contours      Part II. Negotiating American Culture: Traversing Our Own Paths3. Oppositional Power and Empowerment: Girls’ Experiences from the Margins      4. Sex and Sexuality: Negotiating Structures, Constructing Alternatives      Conclusion: An American Coming of Age      Filmography      Bibliography      Index

Sarah Hentges is an associate professor of American studies at the University of Maine at Augusta. She also teaches women’s and gender studies and maintains a blog and website at www.cultureandmovement.com.

“directs attention to the many adolescent experiences that are not represented in mainstream titles...evokes meaningful questions about female empowerment in the cinema...an extensive examination of ‘coming of age’ films portraying teenage girls”—Film and History.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Preface      Part I. American Adolescence: Girls’ Mainstream Terrain1. Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality and Citizenship: A Possessive Investment in the Mainstream      2. Coming of Age Narratives: Some Mainstream Contours      Part II. Negotiating American Culture: Traversing Our Own Paths3. Oppositional Power and Empowerment: Girls’ Experiences from the Margins      4. Sex and Sexuality: Negotiating Structures, Constructing Alternatives      Conclusion: An American Coming of Age      Filmography      Bibliography      Index