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INTELLECTUALIZING THE GOLDEN GIRLS
The Golden Girls Scholarship, Articles, & Research
Leaving Brain Cells All Over the Eastern Seaboard
It's not all just laughs about incontinence or killing men during sex. The Golden Girls touches on a lot of heady themes and lovely life advice, and brilliant scholars have discussed them in actual published journals and papers.
Dig into some of the scholarly themes we discuss on the podcast -- you know, the "intellectualizing" part -- or read some actual published academic research about The Golden Girls below.
Important Scholarly Themes Throughout The Golden Girls
FEMINISM
A feminist show not just by virtue of having four leading ladies, The Golden Girls proved at every turn that women were just as strong and worthy as men.
SEXUALITY
Spoiler: Women like sex, too, and they have it all throughout their lives! All four of the girls get plenty throughout the series -- and talk about it, too.
TRAUMA
Bringing along their divorcee, widow, and life experience baggage, the girls consistently confronted their demons and continued on the better for it.
CHOSEN FAMILY
Your friends are your chosen family, and often understand you better than blood relatives do. It's a wonderful and valid option to live with them.
SELF-RESPECT
There are countless times the girls chose the higher road for themselves when tackling a tough issue, and modeled dignity by doing so.
AGING
The first of its kind to focus on what happens past 50, this show took on all facets of aging -- the physical ones as well as the emotional ones.
PROGRESSIVISM
From pans of harmful Reagan and Bush policies to portraying loving interracial relationships, the show shone a spotlight on moving forward.
LGBTQ ISSUES
From Coco to Clayton and Danny Thomas in between, there's a reason this show is revered in the gay community for being ahead of its time.
ACTIVISM
The gals took pride in the democratic process and exercised their right to protest, sign petitions, and mobilize their community to get shit done.
ETHICS
The girls talked over and tackled potent subjects from discrimination to homelessness, and always arrived at the morally right thing to do.
There are so many more, of course. Stay tuned for in-depth commentary.
Published Scholarly Research about The Golden Girls (like, for real)
Sex and the City, Platinum Edition: How The Golden Girls Altered American Situation Comedy
Brown, Jared Clayton. Graduate College of Bowling Green State University, May 2013.
The Golden Girls: Addressing Issues of Gender, Stigma, and Illness on Network Television
Martin, Miles. University of Rhode Island, 2017.
'Staying Golden': The politics of gender, sexuality, and Jazz in The Golden Girls.
Powell, Elliott H. Jazz Research Journal, University of Minnesota, Jan. 2018.
Glatzer, Elizabeth A. Boston College, 2010.
Thank You for Being a Friend: How The Golden Girls Shaped American Feminism
Issac, Susan. Seaver College at Pepperdine University, 2016.
The Golden Girls: A Sociological Analysis of One Model of Communal Living for the 21st Century.
Ruggiero, Josephine A. Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics: Vol. 2., Providence College, 2016.
Patterson, Eleanor. Feminist Media Studies Journal, Feb. 2016.
West, Thomas J. MP: An Online Feminist Journal, Aug. 2010.
'Don't Make Me Laugh': Age Representations in a Humorous Context
Giles, Howard & Harwood, Jake. Discourse & Society, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1992
Macey, Deborah Ann. School of Journalism and Communication and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon, Sept. 2008.
Thank You For Being a Friend: The “Golden Girls” as a Media Model of Successful Aging
Mahal, Satinder K., DO. & Nie, Pei Huey, MD. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, March 2014.
Sex Toys for Women with Arthritis: From the Golden Girls to Grace and Frankie
Recio, Rocio Palomeque. Universitatea Hyperion, 2018.
Burns-Ardolino, Wendy. Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Grand Valley State University, 2013.
Golden Girls, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and the Legacies of Hysteria
Stayton, Amanda and Keown, Bridget. Nursing Clio, 2018
The Golden Girls Share Signature Stories: Narratives of Aging, Identity, and Communal Desire
Berzsenyi, Christyne A. Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, Fall 2010.
Developing Media Literacy Skills to Challenge Television's Portrayal of Older Women
Cohen, Harriet L. Journal of Educational Gerontology, 2002.
Sex and Death and St. Olaf: Deconstructing the Magic of The Golden Girls
Kypker, Nicole S. Journal of Comedy Studies, Volume 10, 2019.
Kypker, Nicole S. Brunel University London, 2020.
The Golden Girls (TV Milestones Series)
Browne, Kate. TV Milestones Series, Wayne State University Press, 2020.
‘Back in St. Olaf…’: American Dialects in The Golden Girls
Ann, Jean. Watching TV with a Linguist, Syracuse University Press, 2016.
Deconstructing HIV and AIDS on The Golden Girls
Sewell, Claire. Nursing Clio, 2018.
Golden Girls: Feminine Archetypal Patterns of the Complete Woman
Kaler, Anne. The Journal of Popular Culture, 2004.