Girl Groups

The Girl Groups

Essential Question

Were the Girl Groups of the early 1960s voices of female empowerment or reflections of traditional female roles?

Overview

Home to NYC's publishing and songwriting community in the Sixties. The (mostly female) writers of this community created songs that gave rise to female voices in pop music.

The Brill Building

Mostly black female vocal groups. Examples are the Shirelles, the Chiffons, the Shangri-Las, the Ronettes, and the Angels.

Girl Groups

Overview

• The Girl Groups are popular around the same time as the Teen Idols.

• This was also the same point in time that the Women's Rights movement was beginning.

• The themes of their songs focused on the traditional roles of women.

• This created a powerful new female voice in an industry that had been dominated by male writers and male voices.

Opening Activity

Look at This Picture

Questions

• Who is in the picture? How old do they appear to be?

• How would you describe their general appearance? What kinds of activities are they involved in?

• How independent do they seem to be? What evidence can you find in the pictures to support your answer?

• Susan Douglas

In 1960, the year of the Shirelles’ first number-one hit, there were approximately 11.7 million girls between the ages of 12 and 17 in the United States and they were exerting increasing economic clout. The average of four dollars a week a girl received as an allowance was spent on cosmetics, magazines, movies, records and clothes. In an effort to tap into this flow of discretionary income, executives in the culture industry, from film producers to admen, sought to produce music, films, TV shows, ads, and magazines that these girls would buy, both literally and figuratively. The goal, of course, was to cash in on this newly identified market of female ‘baby boomers.’

Questions

• What does the author mean by “economic clout”?

• According to the passage, how much money did the average girl receive each week in allowance?

• What sorts of things did girls spend this money on?

• If you were an executive in the “culture industry” at that time, what things might you have done to market your products to these teenaged girls? Look back at the pictures in the first part of this activity to help with your answer. What kinds of products are the girls using?

Think-Share

"Be My Baby" - The Ronettes

Open Ended

What is the song about and from whose perspective is the story told?

Open Ended

The single of the song sold more than 2 million copies in 1963. Why do you think it was so popular? Do you think it would have been as popular if it had been sung by a male group? Why or why not?

Open Ended

Who do you imagine was the target audience for the song?

Open Ended

How are the performers in the photograph dressed? How do you think this compares with the traditional outfits worn by women in the 1950s?

Think-Share

Reading: "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan

Volunteer Reader - Introduction

Please highlight key words and phrases as you go along. Be prepared to answer the questions that follow

Open Ended

What traditional roles for women does Friedan describe? What kinds of things do these women spend most of their time doing?

Open Ended

What are some of the main words Friedan uses to describe women’s feelings about their situation? (Likely answers include “dissatisfaction,” “yearning,” “struggle,” etc.)

Volunteer Reader - Chapter 1 Excerpt

Please highlight key words and phrases as you go along. Be prepared to answer the questions that follow

Open Ended

According to Friedan, what was happening to the age at which young women were getting married in the late 1950s?

Open Ended

What was happening to women’s college attendance rates in this period?

Open Ended

Does anything about these trends surprise you? Why or why not? Based on your knowledge of this period in American history, why do you think this was happening?

Structured Academy Controversy Activity

Instructions

For the remainder of the lesson,you will engage in a Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) in which you will analyze “He’s A Rebel,” along with other songs of the “Girl Group” era, and consider what they tell us about the roles and attitudes of girls and women in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 

Instructions

Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) is very similar to a debate, except that rather than dividing students into opposing teams whose goal is to win the debate, all students will evaluate arguments on both sides and attempt to come to a consensus as to how to best answer the question.

Address This Question

Were the Girl Groups of the 1960s voices of female empowerment or a reflection of traditional female roles?

Address This Question

Were the Girl Groups of the 1960s voices of female empowerment or a reflection of traditional female roles?

Wrap Up

Open Ended

Based on what you've learned today: Were the Girl Groups of the early 1960s voices of female empowerment or reflections of traditional female roles?