Cinderella Ate My Daughter : Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture

Author(s): Peggy Orenstein

Teen | Body Image | Confidence/Resilience | Mental Health

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.


Sweet and sassy 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 1990s and today, the pursuit of physical perfection has been recast as the source of female empowerment. And commercialization has spread the message faster and farther, reaching girls at ever-younger ages. But how dangerous is pink and pretty, anyway? Being a princess is just make-believe; eventually they grow out of it . . . or do they?


In search of answers, Peggy Orenstein visited Disneyland, trolled American Girl Place, and met parents of beauty-pageant preschoolers tricked out like Vegas showgirls. The stakes turn out to be higher than she ever imagined. From premature sexualization to the risk of depression to rising rates of narcissism, the potential negative impact of this new girlie-girl culture is undeniable--yet armed with awareness and recognition, parents can effectively counterbalance its influence in their daughters' lives.


Product Information

"Reading "Cinderella" is like hanging out with a straight-talking, hilarious friend; taking a fascinating seminar on 21st century girlhood; and discovering a compendium of wise (but never preachy) advice on raising girls. A must-read for any parent trying to stay sane in a media saturated world."--Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out and The Curse of the Good Girl

General Fields

  • : 9780061711534
  • : HarperCollins Publishers Inc
  • : HarperCollins Publishers
  • : 0.504
  • : January 2012
  • : 203mm X 135mm X 15mm
  • : United States
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Peggy Orenstein
  • : Paperback / softback
  • : 1201
  • : 305.23082
  • : 256