Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein, 244 pages

While the title alone sounds like this book could be one of the zombie/vampire-classic literature hybrids, Cinderella Ate My Daughter is in fact an examination of the uber-pink, sparkly world that seems to have taken over little girls in the last 10 years or so. Orenstein looks at, among other things, the Disney Princess phenomenon, American Girl dolls, little girl beauty pageants, and the pink versions of every toy available and their potential future effect on the girls who are targeted by them. Do they oversexualize the girls? Do they create weird little girl-skanky teen hybrids that are numb to the consequences of sex? Or is there really any effect at all?

Orenstein writes as a feminist mother who wants her daughter to grow up without the "girls = pink, boys = blue" stereotypes. For the most part, I can identify with her as a parent — yeah, I have a son, but if my next child is a girl, I'd love to spend as little time as possible in the "pink aisles" at Target — although she sometimes veers into the opposite extremes of what she's studying. As she points out in the book, even if you try with all your might to guard against a certain type of toy or TV show, it will find some way to creep into your kid's life. Is it really worth it to fight, at least with such vehemence?

The book's definitely thought-provoking, and definitely makes me glad I've got the bookish and independent Beauty and the Beast on my DVD shelf to counteract the clueless puppy love of The Little Mermaid, lest I fall too far from my tomboyish roots.