by, by dressing “like a boy” at Thomas Jefferson High School. Janis in a very real way was a part of many of the movements combined, but mostly through her music. This was the time of the Civil Rights movement, and segregationists feared racial mixing. Rock n’ toll concerts and dances basically promoted this mixing. Janis had black and Jewish friends; she even went to temple with the Bennetts. She was also rebellious sexually, as she “felt compelled to appear promiscuous. Not only was Janis exposed to the media and her conservative parents, but she was far from the media’s image of the petite beautiful girl either. Kids at school made fun of her, and this ended up sticking with her, but also in a way motivating her throughout her short life. She loved folk, jazz, and blues music, which were considered “black music.” She loved listening to it, but loved singing it even more. Janis not only crossed the gender lines by her simply being a singer, but she crossed over the racial lines by the type of music she liked to sing. She sang what was considered “black music” which crossed over racial lines, but she also competed in rock n’ roll, which was predominantly male. Janis, like Douglas, didn’t want to be like her parents and live within the confines of the society. She wanted to break out and explore her body and mind. And she did just that. Throughout the book Janis has casual sex with various men and women. However, she always wanted to be loved by one man, get married, and have kids. She talked about the classic white picket fence house scene. Janis had an insecurity problem, as many females did. And it was a direct result, according to Douglas, of the media, and society as a whole. Janis’s insecurities came from a realm of areas, from her parent’s disapproval to her friends making fun of her in school, to her dissatisfactory looks. In this...
