90s Lolitas, volume 1: Drew Barrymore, Amy Fisher and Alicia Silverstone (Erotic 90’s, Part 8)

Culture in the 90s was obsessed with the sex lives of teenagers. This is a theme we will come back to several times throughout the season. In this episode, we’ll talk about Drew Barrymore, who became a massive star at age 7 in E.T., went to rehab at 13, became an emancipated minor at 15 and immediately started pushing buttons with naked photo shoots and her comeback role as a murderously seductive teen in Poison Ivy. With teenaged Drew scantily clas in magazines and on screen – and “Long Island Lolita” Amy Fisher making headlines for shooting her adult lover’s wife – the media was eager to exploit the precocious sexuality of other teen girls. But while she made her film debut in the Poison Ivy-esque The Crush, Alicia Silverstone vocally pushed back on being branded “the next Lolita”.

(00:00) The Normalization of the 90s Lolita

(12:31) Drew, Emancipated

(xx:xx) Having It Both Ways

(29:46) Making Poison Ivy

(39:15) “The Long Island Lolita”

(48:03) Drew Barrymore Grows Up

(56:53) Alicia, Aerosmith, and Clueless

(01:04:48) “Why Can’t This Teenage Girl Get with the Program?”

(01:11:04) Pitting Alicia Against Drew