false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255833679m/6607714.jpg 6607714 1 <p>On Friday nights many parents want to have a little fun together—without the kids. But “getting a sitter”—especially a dependable one—rarely seems trouble-free. Will the kids be safe with “that girl”? It’s a question that discomfited parents have been asking ever since the emergence of the modern American teenage girl nearly a century ago. In <b>Babysitter</b>, Miriam Forman-Brunell brings critical attention to the ubiquitous, yet long-overlooked babysitter in the popular imagination and American history.</p><p>Informed by her research on the history of teenage girls’ culture, Forman-Brunell analyzes the babysitter, who has embodied adults’ fundamental apprehensions about girls’ pursuit of autonomy and empowerment. In fact, the grievances go both ways, as girls have been distressed by unsatisfactory working conditions. In her quest to gain a fuller picture of this largely unexamined cultural phenomenon, Forman-Brunell analyzes a wealth of diverse sources, such as <i>The Baby-sitter’s Club</i> book series, horror movies like <i>The Hand That Rocks the Cradle</i>, urban legends, magazines, newspapers, television shows, pornography, and more.</p><p>Forman-Brunell shows that beyond the mundane, understandable apprehensions stirred by hiring a caretaker to “mind the children” in one’s own home, babysitters became lightning rods for society’s larger fears about gender and generational change. In the end, experts’ efforts to tame teenage girls with training courses, handbooks, and other texts failed to prevent generations from turning their backs on babysitting.</p> 6801649 15 7 2009 Babysitter: An American History total:3|5:0|4:0|3:1|2:2|1:0| 3 7 23 2 3 0 false false Wed Sep 23 21:29:46 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 21:18:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Sep 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 09:59:14 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 21:34:12 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sat Oct 03 19:03:45 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 19:03:45 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Sep 19 08:43:44 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 08:43:48 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 13:10:01 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 13:10:10 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 27 13:16:42 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 13:17:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 16 08:41:12 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 08:41:12 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 13 12:15:59 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 12:15:59 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Aug 05 09:53:22 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 09:53:22 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 04 13:09:47 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 13:09:47 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jul 31 20:42:22 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 20:42:22 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jul 31 17:04:32 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 17:04:32 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jul 31 10:03:09 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 10:03:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jul 23 20:49:18 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 20:49:36 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jul 21 17:34:43 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 17:34:43 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Jul 21 07:43:48 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 07:43:48 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jul 20 12:48:58 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 12:48:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Jul 20 06:02:59 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 06:03:07 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jul 19 06:02:10 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 06:02:10 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jul 18 06:55:47 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 06:55:47 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6607714