Rebecca Hains is an American communication and media studies scholar and author. She is a professor in the Media and Communication Department at Salem State University and focuses her work on the subject of children's media culture and marketing, which she studies from a feminist media studies and critical/cultural studies perspective. She is a 2023–2024 Fulbright scholar.
Her books include Growing Up with Girl Power: Girlhood on Screen and in Everyday Life (2012) and The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls through the Princess-Obsessed Years (2014), and she has edited three anthologies on children's culture.
Education Hains earned her B.A. in English from Emmanuel College, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1998 and her M.S. in mass communication from Boston University (2000). She holds a Ph.D. in mass media and communication from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2007).Hains, Rebecca. "Curriculum Vitae Rebecca C. Hains, Ph.D.", accessed April 24, 2023; "Rebecca Hains, Guest Blogger", The Christian Science Monitor, accessed April 24, 2023
Publications Hains' 2012 book Growing Up with Girl Power: Girlhood on Screen and in Everyday Life presents a critical history of the girl power phenomenon. Combining textual analysis with field work among children and interviews with tween girls, the book considers girls' interpretations of girl power's messages about female empowerment, girlhood, strength, femininity, and race. Hains details strengths and limitations in commercialized girl power's handling of preadolescent body image, gender identity, sexism, and racism.Keller, Jessalynn. "Critical girls: girl power revisited", Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 7, no. 2, winter 2014, pp. 142 et seq.Kelly, Emma Jean. "Hains, Rebecca C.: Growing Up with Girlpower: Girlhood on Screen and in Everyday Life", Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, no. 147, May 2013, p. 167 Jessalynn Keller, in her review for Girlhood Studies, concludes that the book "is a necessary read for those interested in girls' studies, feminist media studies, feminist ethnography, and childhood studies".
Her 2014 book The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls through the Princess-Obsessed Years critiques princess culture's consumerism and its gender, race, and beauty stereotypes, with special attention to the Disney Princess franchise.Heatwole, Alexandra. "Disney girlhood: princess generations and Once Upon a Time", Studies in the Humanities, vol. 43, no. 1–2, December 2016, pp. 1 et seq. The book combines original field research and secondary analysis of scholarly research on media and child development, interpreting these studies for a mainstream audience of parents. It also focuses on helping children develop critical thinking and critical viewing skills."The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls through the Princess-Obsessed Years", ProtoView.com, November 2014 The Princess Problem was the subject of significant media attention, including a double segment on The Meredith Vieira Show. Publishers Weekly's review states that the book dissects "princess marketing, reveals inherent gender stereotypes, [and] adds to the discussion with these practical parenting tips.""The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls Through the Princess-Obsessed Years", Publishers Weekly, vol. 261, no. 35, September 1, 2014, p. 65
Hains has edited, with collaborators, six anthologies on children's culture: Princess Cultures: Mediating Girls' Imaginations and Identities (2013), Cultural Studies of LEGO: More Than Just Bricks (2019), The Marketing of Children's Toys: Critical Perspectives on Children's Consumer Culture (2021). Supernatural Youth in Media (2025) Barbie and Social Media: Digital Discourses and Mattel's Celebrity Doll (2025) Barbie in the Media: The Transmedia Presence of Mattel's Celebrity Doll (2025)
A review in the American Journal of Play comments that in Princess Cultures, "Forman-Brunell and Hains have created a rich collection of essays that significantly contribute to the growing literature that examines girls' popular cultures."Aguilo-Perez, Emily R. "Princess Cultures: Mediating Girls' Imaginations and Identities", American Journal of Play, vol. 8, no. 3, spring 2016, pp. 397 et seq. An article in Marketing Theory cited two of her books and a journal article, praising Cultural Studies of Lego for highlighting "the importance of understanding gendered marketing to children to complement our understanding of children’s consumption and consumer culture".Sagheer, Sadaf, Lauren Gurrieri and Torgeir Aleti. "The gendered marketing of children’s toys: An integrative review and de-gendering agenda", Marketing Theory, May 16, 2025 Hains has also written articles on media culture for publications such as The Washington Post, > The Christian Science Monitor, > and The Boston Globe.
Media appearances and perspective Conventional U.S. and international media frequently cite Hains as an academic expert on children's media culture. Her critical perspective on media representation of girls and women, as well as gender stereotypes on screen and in children's toys, have been reported on in major publications, news programs, and radio broadcasts. For example, her analyses of Barbie have been covered by The Washington Post, Fortune, Adweek, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and on SiriusXM, while her critiques of Disney Princess and princess culture have been reported on by the BBC, The Christian Science Monitor, Fortune, The Guardian, The Meredith Vieira Show, The New York Times, NPR's On Point, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN.Davis, Lisa Selin. "Why gender-neutral holiday presents matter for your children", CNN, December 20, 2021
Media outlets reporting on gender-neutral toys and gendered toy marketing have included her expert commentary, such as CBC Radio's The Current, Fox and Friends, NPR's Morning Edition, Slate, and The Wall Street Journal. Hains spoke extensively about princess culture, girl power, and the history of girls and media in the 2014 ARTE France documentary Pink Attitude: Princesses, Pop Stars and Girl Power.
Academia Hains is a professor in the Media and Communication Department at Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts, where she has also served as department chair and a faculty fellow in diversity, equity and inclusion. Among her peer-reviewed journal articles, the most frequently cited is "Power feminism, mediated: Girl power and the commercial politics of change," published in Women's Studies in Communication, which informs scholars' research about feminism and power dynamics in the media. Oxford Bibliographies identifies two of Hains' other articles as significant contributions on advertising and promotion to children,McAllister, Matthew P., Alexandra Nutter, Yasemin Beykont, and Sydney L. Forde. "Advertising and Promotion", Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford University Press, May 26, 2022, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199791286-0002 three of her works (including her first two books) as significant contributions on "tweens – childhood studies",Aguiló-Pérez, Emily R. "Tweens", Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford University Press, July 26, 2017 DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199791231-0189 and her collection Princess Cultures as a significant contribution to "fairy tales and folk tales – childhood studies".Koehler, Julie and Claudia Schwabe. "Fairy Tales and Folktales", Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford University Press, February 22, 2018 DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199791231-0195
Hains was invited as a special guest to the White House Council on Women and Girls' Research Conference on Girls in 2014. She sits on the National Advisory Council of Media Literacy Now and the editorial board of the Journal of Children and Media. She was previously a board member of the Brave Girls Alliance, the International Communication Association, and the National Women's Studies Association. Hains received a 2023–2024 Fulbright award to teach at Jagiellonian University in Poland,Souza, Scott. "Salem State University Professors Earn Fulbright Awards", Patch, September 1, 2023"Rebecca Hains", Fulbright Scholar Program. Retrieved May 21, 2024 where she also "explore[d] the global impact of American media internationally".Luca, Dustin. "Salem educators head abroad on Fulbright awards", The Salem News, September 20, 2023
References
External links