Growing Up Female

Growing Up Female: A Personal Photo-Journal (1974) was a "landmark"^[1] book of photography by Abigail Heyman (1942–2013).^[2][3] The book pioneered American feminism in photography by documenting stereotypical women's roles.^[4][5]

History

Heyman introduced the book, writing "this book is about women, and their lives as women, from one feminist’s point of view."^[3] The book collected photographs of Heyman's life, "challenge[ing] assumptions about being a woman", and "documented the female experience from a feminist perspective."^[1] The black and white images in the book include women doing beauty and domestic tasks such as women as mothers, preparing food, wearing curlers, and grocery shopping.^[6][7] It also contained images of young girls; and demonstrated how female stereotypes were reinforced for girls starting at a young age.^[5][7] According to The New York Times, "[i]n one of the book’s most arresting images, Ms. Heyman photographed herself undergoing an abortion."^[2] That image alone, set the tone of the book due to the controversial topic of abortions.

While Growing Up Female: A Personal Photo-Journal is a photo journal, it is safe to assume that their would be no text whatsoever unless the author is giving a brief description of the photos at the beginning of the story (which Heyman did). However, when you look through this photo journal there are four pages that have some form of text. Above the second photo in the journal showcasing a little girl in a bathroom, it says "My aunt use to say, "You're a pretty girl. You'll do well."^[8] This pushes the stance on feminism that the photos already had even further. Even from a young age, women were constantly being told or pushed to believe that beauty is everything and is one of the only things what will guaranteed them a good life. This still stems into modern day culture at times due to the overwhelming pressure of beauty standards placed on women today. While it is less demanding due to body positivity and the movements to support individuality, it is still an issue faced by millions.

The beauty standards of women is also pushed when two different images of women was put side by side around the sixth page of the journal. On the left a woman with blonde hair stands proudly in what appears to be a cheer/marching band uniform. On the left is a woman with brown hair in more casual clothing while holding a football. This showed the difference between the basic stereotypes involving women and the reality of a few of those women. Not every woman wants to be girly with pretty clothes and freshly done nails. Some women want to play tough sports an enjoy the things in life that were originally meant for boys. Pushing past the usual standards of women has been a struggle for decades; not just a one decade issue.

Andy Grundberg described the book as "test[ing] the line between reportage and personal expression."^[2]

During the 1970s, the work sold more than 35,000 copies, and was a mainstay of women's bookstores and feminist literature displays, along with Our Bodies, Ourselves.^[2]