Some Day my Prince Will Come: Young Girls and the Preparation for Adolescent Sexuality

Abstract

My first inspiration for the title of this chapter came from a fragment of childhood memory told to me by a friend, now adult. It was of her grandmother, seated at the piano, surrounded by her family, playing her favourite song, ‘Some day my prince will come ...’. Judging from the rendering of the song, it acted as a catalyst for an outpouring of unfulfilled desire and it is clear that, old as she was, her prince had not yet arrived. That an old woman can still harbour desire for romantic fulfilment encapsulates the theme which I want to explore: the way in which girls are prepared for entry into heterosexual practices, and, in particular, for romantic love. Here I intend to explore this theme by examining some aspects of the ideological preparation for adolescent sexuality in children’s fiction, particularly girls’ comics. I shall use this examination as a vehicle for discussing the relation between the psychic production of feminine desire and cultural forms and practices.