Cinderella Ate My Daughter

About this book

PeggyOrenstein, acclaimed author of the groundbreaking New York Timesbestsellers Girls & Sex and Schoolgirls, offers aradical, timely wake-up call for parents, revealing the dark side of a prettyand pink culture confronting girls at every turn as they grow into adults.Sweetand sassy or predatory and hardened, sexualized girlhood influences ourdaughters from infancy onward, telling them that how a girl looks matters morethan who she is. Somewhere between the exhilarating rise of Girl Power in the1990s and today, the pursuit of physical perfection has been recastas the source of female empowerment. And commercialization has spreadthe message faster and farther, reaching girls at ever-younger ages. But howdangerous is pink and pretty, anyway? Being a princess is just make-believe;eventually they grow out of it . . . or do they? Insearch of answers, Peggy Orenstein visited Disneyland, trolled American GirlPlace, and met parents of beauty-pageant preschoolers tricked out like Vegasshowgirls. The stakes turn out to be higher than she ever imagined. Frompremature sexualization to the risk of depression to rising rates ofnarcissism, the potential negative impact of this new girlie-girl culture isundeniable--yet armed with awareness and recognition, parents can effectivelycounterbalance its influence in their daughters' lives.