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June 28, 2026Open Access

Semi-permeable selves : hygienic discourse and the biopolitics of girls' health, 1870-1920

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Authors

ALAriel Little

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Overview

This dissertation explores hygienic girlhood in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, highlighting its cultural implications.

Key Points

  • The research investigates how hygiene shaped perceptions of girlhood between 1870 and 1920, focusing on its implications for agency and biopolitics.
  • Analyzed girls' health guides and fiction by authors like Mary Wood-Allen and Louisa May Alcott.
  • Examined discursive practices in relation to race and gender formation.
  • Utilized theoretical frameworks from health humanities, spatial studies, and ecocriticism.
  • Identified hygienic girlhood as a means of gaining agency amidst racial and gendered biopolitics.
  • Demonstrated that authors of varied racial identities presented contrasting narratives of hygiene and girlhood.
  • Highlighted ongoing implications of hygiene discourse on contemporary understandings of girlhood and agency.

Cite This Study

Ariel Little (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a40b9f361bb0a67205c5f4bhttps://doi.org/10.14288/1.0452823
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