The influences of adolescent literature on young women's gender identity development

This study examined the interrelationship between young women's gender identity development and literacy experiences in defining their gender roles. This study sought to understand the ways the participants decoded and internalized messages in literature about gender identity and femininity and how they translated those messages in their daily behaviors.; The research focused on six adolescent female participants from varied ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Ethnographic data were collected from each participant in the form of a questionnaire, a dialectical journal, and individual and paired interviews. The research explored the messages that four assigned realistic young adult novels sent to adolescent females about femininity and gender identity. Based on the participants' reading experiences, this research also investigated how they interpreted and decoded textual meaning and how they negotiated their behavior in terms of the female protagonists they encountered.; The data indicate that the young women in this research clearly identified with the literature they read on a personal level. Data analysis generated several categories of identification for the participants. The categories included gender identity development, identity of self, messages of femininity, and self verses others. These findings for these four categories were consistent.; The young women reported having control over their decisions to accept or reject messages they received from mass mediated texts in assuming gender identity. They took away positive messages of femininity and empowerment from the novels they read for this study, but frustration and confusion accompanied the interpretation of the messages. They expressed dismay over the conflicting messages they receive about being female and about how they should behave affecting gender identity development. The young women showed acute awareness of influential secondary characters to the female protagonists' lives, and they identified and related to their own role models that directly, influence their identity of self. Although the messages they received about peer relationships regarding identity of self from the novels they read were positive, the reality of rejection by peer groups based on this theory was a source of contention for these young women.; Additional findings indicated that these participants seriously considered behavior from memorable, strong female protagonists and messages of femininity when contemplating and negotiating their behavior in terms of gender identity development, identity of self, messages of femininity, and self verse others.