ROMANTIC LOVE

Assessment of McRobbie's arguments on romantic love in the culture of adolescent girls

Assessment of McRobbie's arguments on romantic love in the culture of adolescent girls

Introduction

Youth culture attracts youngsters to have their own standards and norms according to their requirements in the society. With changing times, people's perceptions and ideas also change. Adolescent girls develop different sorts of norms and standards as per their comprehension of the world around them. Before 1970s, the girls considered themselves attached to their male counterparts and depended on them for their lasting security. McRobbie's describes adolescent girls of the 1970s as pursing their ideal man who is perfect for their lives. They have a concept of romantic love that made them look for their ideal man and construct images of star celebrities as their icons. However, with the passage of time, the idea of romantic love and romance changed a lot. Girls started to acknowledge themselves as individuals and more feminine. They regarded their consideration of self as crucial in place of their attachment with men.

McRobbie regards heterosexuality as the perfect form of human relationship and shuns homosexuality. According to his perception, magazines have also contributed to reduce the impact of conceptualised romantic culture. Girls consider planning and safety measures as against the norms of love. They connect sexual intercourse with love and consider control as illegal according to the code of romantic love. McRobbie gave an idealised picture of romance in the culture of adolescent girls, but the concept of romance has changed a lot. This paper evaluates McRobbie's arguments on romantic love in the culture of adolescent girls.

Discussion

McRobbie's Arguments on Romantic Love and Change

McRobbie defines girls as connected to romantic ideology. They construct a youth culture based concept according to which, romantically, there are no restrictions of class or gender chain of command that are prevalent in the society (Holland & Eisenhart, 1992, p. 50). The girls in their development phases always keep romantic ideals and regard marriage or coupling as a reality that they must achieve sometime in the future. They indulge themselves in talking and dreaming about heterosexual love. The magazine “Jackie” before 1980s delivered the notions of romantic love for the girls to construct their romantic worlds. According to McRobbie, for the adolescent girls, romantic love is the governing emotion of their lives (Holland & Eisenhart, 1992, p. 50).

The concept of femininity has changed with the passage of time. Major shift in conceptualism of femininity was seen in 1980s. The concept that gained reputation was innovative for adolescents and others. McRobbie did a study about social messages of magazines regarding femininity (Cockburn, 2000, p. 6). The idea of femininity changed altogether. Romanticised concept of romantic love changed to the desirous sexual intercourse attached with love. According to McRobbie, “Just Seventeen and More!”, a new magazine got the reputation among the girls of the era that was less romanticised as compared to “Jackie” that was previously popular because of its romantic content (Cockburn, 2000, ...