Super Girls, Gangstas, Freeters and Xenomaniacs: Gender and Modernity in Global Youth Cultures, by Susan Dewey and Karen J. Brison (eds.)

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I thought from the title that this was going to be a hip-talking "teenspeak" book aimed at young women to make them feel empowered through fun little antidotes about roller derby girls in Brazil or something.

I'm an idiot.

This is actually a very serious collection of essays on the ideals of gender, particularly the gender expectations and ideals placed on young people (girls and boys both), around the globe in the modern world.

Oh, for the record, the title refers to
a Chinese version of American Idol called SuperGirl, Tonga Crip Gangstas (TCG) in Los Angeles, young men in Japan who work only part-time (known as "freeters") instead of full-time, and discourse on consumer practises of youth in Cyprus ("xenomania").

Disclaimer: I received a digital galley of this book free from the publisher from NetGalley.com. I was not obliged to write a favourable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.