About this item
The acclaimed author of the groundbreaking bestseller Schoolgirls reveals the dark side of pink and pretty the rise of the girlie-girl she warns is not that innocent Pink and pretty or predatory and hardened sexualized girlhood influences our daughters from infancy onward telling them that how a girl looks matters more than who she is Somewhere between the exhilarating rise of Girl Power in the s and today the pursuit of physical perfection has been recast as a sourcemdashthe sourcemdashof female empowerment And commercialization has spread the message faster and farther reaching girls at ever-younger ages But realistically how many times can you say no when your daughter begs for a pint-size wedding gown or the latest Hannah Montana CD And how dangerous is pink and pretty anywaymdashespecially given girls successes in the classroom and on the playing field Being a princess is just make-believe after all eventually they grow out of it Or do they Does playing Cinderella shield girls from early sexualizationmdashor prime them for it Could todays little princess become tomorrows sexting teen And what if she does Would that make her in charge of her sexualitymdashor an unwitting captive to it Those questions hit home with Peggy Orenstein so she went sleuthing She visited Disneyland and the international toy fair trolled American Girl Place and Pottery Barn Kids and met beauty pageant parents with preschoolers tricked out like Vegas showgirls She dissected the science created an online avatar and parsed the original fairy tales The stakes turn out to be higher than shemdashor wemdashever imagined nothing less than the health development and futures of our girls From premature sexualization to the risk of depression to rising rates of narcissism the potential negative impact of this new girlie-girl culture is undeniablemdashyet armed with awareness and recognition parents can effectively counterbalance its influence in their daughters lives Cinderella Ate My Daughter is a must-read for anyone who cares about girls and for parents helping their daughters navigate the rocky road to adulthood.
About the Author
Peggy Orenstein is a best-selling author and a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. Orenstein has also written for such publications as The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Vogue, Elle, Discover, More, Mother Jones, Salon, O: The Oprah Magazine, and The New Yorker, and has contributed commentaries to NPR's All Things Considered. Her articles have been anthologized multiple times, including in The Best American Science Writing. She has been a keynote speaker at numerous colleges and conferences and has been featured on, among other programs, "Nightline," "Good Morning America," "Today," NPR's "Fresh Air" and Morning Edition, and CBC's "As It Happens. "Orenstein was recognized for her "Outstanding Coverage of Family Diversity," by the Council on Contemporary Families and received a "Books For A Better Life Award" for . Her work has also been honored by the Commonwealth Club of California, the National Women's Political Caucus of California, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Additionally, she has been awarded fellowships from the United States-Japan Foundation and the Asian Cultural Council. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Orenstein is a graduate of Oberlin College and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter.