Teenage Bedrooms by Mary Murphy https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6 A exploration into the importance of youths' private space en-us 2022-02-16 12:35:51 UTC 2025-09-24 14:54:05 UTC hello@padlet.com More than just a bedroom... w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118276132 The significance of the teenage bedroom is staggering. Offering privacy, a sense of control and independence, as well as a means to display one’s identity, a youth’s bedroom is more than a mere four walls (Lincoln 2012). Bedrooms have become a necessary avenue of youth sociological study for the active role the space plays in the everyday lives of adolescents.  ]]> 2022-03-29 01:11:11 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118276132 Frontstage and Backstage w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118284127 Erving Goffman (2002) presents the concept of a backstage and frontstage in defining self presentation, wherein everyone acts in either the frontstage, a space where one is in public and exposed to societal perception, or the backstage, a space where one is alone and not obligated to perform in front of others. These spaces coexist and greatly impact one another. Private spaces, such as teenage bedrooms, are often a backstage refuge from a ceaseless front stage performance. ]]> 2022-03-29 01:16:10 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118284127 Zoning w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118287091 Zoning (Lincoln 2012) allows for a multifunctional private space. Youths occupy many roles within the singular bedroom space and this multiplicity is achieved through zoning, the breakdown of a space for multiple uses through atmospheric adaptations, such as music and lighting, the display of certain objects and general space construction and reorientation.  ]]> 2022-03-29 01:18:03 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118287091 Co-construction and the Role of Gifts w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118294479 Newson Carey (2017) notes that gifts are plentiful in the decorative construction of her participants’ rooms. These gifts typically have sentimental value to the participant and were given to the youth by someone with whom they have, or had, a meaningful relationship with. Though teenage bedrooms are certainly an individualistic manifestation of personality, the existence of external decorations argues that they are simultaneously indicative of relationships and outward influences. 


]]> 2022-03-29 01:22:17 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118294479 Gender w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118302224 As discussed by Angela McRobbie and Jenny Garber (1977), young girls were often excluded from actively practising subcultures and personifying their personalities and interests in public. As a consequence of this, the teen girl’s bedroom represented the sole place she could display herself authentically, signifying the specific import of the teen girl’s bedroom. Mary Celeste Kearney (2007) argues that this trend has persisted and that the bedroom remains synonymous with girl culture. ]]> 2022-03-29 01:26:44 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118302224 Inequalities w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118319572 Sarah Wilson and EJ Milne (2016) further solidify the significance of the teenage bedroom through their research discovery that without a space in which they felt “at home,” youths’ well-being suffers greatly. In fact, some participants in the study even specifically noted their bedrooms as being their “favourite spaces.” Needless to say, this disadvantages youths that do not have access to the kinds of resources that may create a comfortable, safe, and private bedroom space.]]> 2022-03-29 01:37:37 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118319572 Ontological Security w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118323670 Teenage bedrooms provide a sense of constancy in the often tumultuous lives of the youth. This phenomenon was defined by Anthony Giddens (1992) as ontological security, or a sense of stability in a place or things. Ontological security deeply connects young people to their bedrooms, as they are a place of great comfort and dependability. 


]]> 2022-03-29 01:40:12 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118323670 Problematization w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118395469 Eion Devereux (2007) notes that youth media consumption is increasingly a bedroom centric activity. Jane Brown and Jeanne Steele (1995) even dissected room culture to better understand the role of the media in teens’ lives. Media consumption has long been a source of anxiety for many parents and its intersection with the teen bedroom speaks to the larger problematization of youths’ private spaces. Caretakers now worry that the teen bedroom is no longer a safe space, but one that requires observation and scrutiny, one indicative of potential harm. Teens are not trusted to conduct themselves privately as the danger of the outside world migrates inside through the media.  ]]> 2022-03-29 02:23:07 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118395469 Glass Bedroom w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118427375 Social media is determined by Pearson (2009) to be a glass bedroom, a space in which intimacy and exposure coincide. Teens may share private information and have private conversations on social media, however, this privacy is never truly obtained as social media is ultimately a public endeavor. Users exist within the familiar bedroom space with an added element of observation. ]]> 2022-03-29 02:37:33 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118427375 w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118439971 Bedrooms are innately understood as being indicative of one's personality, interests, self-presentation etc. ]]> 2022-03-29 02:45:57 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118439971 w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118461949 My personal bedroom, though it is temporary, does signify a portion of my personality and interests, for example, I love to read and like the color pink. It says a lot about a person what they choose to fill their private space with, as these objects are manifestations of internal interests and taste. ]]> 2022-03-29 03:01:21 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118461949 w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118470980 Ladybird is one of my favorite films, so I've chosen to include the main character's bedroom set as my background. It's interesting to consider how a bedroom movie set is constructed--everything in the frame is carefully curated to appear not only realistic but authentic. Often the bedroom sets of any given movie or TV show are the most outfitted, once again proving that one's bedroom is where individuality truly manifests. ]]> 2022-03-29 03:07:42 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118470980 w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118473510 I picked this picture specifically because the upward perspective shows how formidable and daunting the frontstage can truly be. ]]> 2022-03-29 03:09:30 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118473510 w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118480600 The lack of an aesthetic, curated room is realistic, albeit undesirable. Yet when wealth is measured through tangible objects, having haphazard and mismatched furniture may be a source of shame and embarrassment.      ]]> 2022-03-29 03:14:20 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118480600 References w1875648 https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118509574 Carey, N. (2017). Co-Constructed Space and The Power of Presents: Unwrapping Relational Identity in the Teenage Bedroom. Home Cultures, 14(3), 279-306.
Devereux, E. (Ed.). (2007). Media studies: Key issues and debates. Sage.
Giddens, A. (1992). Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modem Age.
Goffman, E. (2002). The presentation of self in everyday life. 1959. Garden City, NY, 259.
Holloway, S. L., & Valentine, G. (2000). Spatiality and the new social studies of childhood. Sociology, 34(4), 763-783.
Kearney, M. C. (2007). Productive spaces: Girls' bedrooms as sites of cultural production. Journal of children and media, 1(2), 126-141.
Lincoln, S. (2012). Youth culture and private space. Springer.
McRobbie, A. and Garber, McRobbie, Angela and Garber, Jenny. 1977. Girls and Subcultures. In: Pearson, E (2009) All the World Wide Web’s a Stage. The performance of identity in online social networks https://firstmonday.org/article/view/2162/2127
Pearson, E. (2009). All the World Wide Web’sa stage: The performance of identity in online social networks. First Monday.
Steele, J. R., & Brown, J. D. (1995). Adolescent room culture: Studying media in the context of everyday life. Journal of youth and adolescence, 24(5), 551-576.
Wilson, S., & Milne, E. J. (2016). Visual activism and social justice: using visual methods to make young people’s complex lives visible across ‘public’ and ‘private’ spaces. Current Sociology, 64(1), 140-156.

]]> 2022-03-29 03:34:11 UTC https://padlet.com/w1875648/m1srtnyouibwj3a6/wish/2118509574