In her upcoming book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein explores what it’s like to raise a daughter in this girlie-girl obsessed culture. All parents want to protect their child and hope that she lives happily ever after, but will the princess treatment really do the trick? Does playing Cinderella shield little girls from early sexualization—or prime them for it?
Orenstein, part parent and part journalist, helps her readers to bring together pieces of girl culture and understand how marketers’ and the media’s use of Disney Princesses and Barbies and Britneys/Lindsays/Mileys and beauty pageants are sending girls mixed messages about innocence and sexuality. This smart and honest look into girlhood will give well-meaning parents a sense of sanity.
More information:
To purchase Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
To view Peggy Orenstein’s Tour Dates and Website
Peggy’s appearance on the Today Show
Before we had our daughter, a kid’s clothing store called
Honeys and Heroes opened up in our town. It made me cringe. Why
would you want to tell girls that they are ‘honeys,’ while boys get
to be ‘heroes’? As the NYT Book Review of Cinderella Ate My
Daughter points out: to sell, of course! Disney is one of the main
culprits, with their relentless princess products merchandising to
girls, and their Princesses & Heroes On Ice shows. (Think
about the message this sends to kids and, if you’re inspired, email
Disney corporate.) Because of our disgust with the whole
‘princess-industrial complex,’ my wife and I made a conscious
effort not to register for anything pink for our daughter’s baby
shower. What happened? A lot of pink happened. We don’t believe in
throwing away clothes because of their color, but I am documenting
this ‘ocassional pink’ phase and will show it to Naomi when she’s a
little older. My message is simple: there’s nothing wrong with pink
and princesses; it’s just that they’re not a perfect match for
girls. Unlike princesses and ‘honeys,’ girls don’t need to wait to
be rescued by princes and heroes. They can do great things on their
own. They can be heroes. So, yes, pink and princesses are a
necessary part of our world. In fact, they’re a great match for the
most dependent beings of all — babies. –David 1000BabySteps.com
(1000 small steps toward a better life for all grown-ups, based on
what I learn from my baby daughter over the next 1000
days!)