Cinderella Ate My Daughter - by Peggy Orenstein (Paperback)

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

Peggy
Orenstein, acclaimed author of the groundbreaking New York Times
bestsellers Girls & Sex and Schoolgirls, offers a
radical, timely wake-up call for parents, revealing the dark side of a pretty
and pink culture confronting girls at every turn as they grow into adults.

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.

From the Back Cover

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.

Review Quotes

"Reading Cinderella feels like what I imagine it might be like to sit at a cafe with Orenstein, whose writing style is engaging and conversational without being dumbed-down--an ideal combo for taking on the cultural ills that threaten our daughters. . . . There's real pleasure to be derived from reading Orenstein's sane and reasoned dissection of this phenomenon. . . . Orenstein is voicing more articulate, thoughtful, and better-researched versions of your own observations and concerns." - Myla Goldberg, Slate
"Orenstein is an unapologetically passionate critic of the marketing onslaught she skewers so stunningly in her latest and most masterful book. . . . Orenstein consistently brings an opinionated, yet sensible sensibility to the hottest-button questions of contemporary feminism. . . . in Cinderella Ate My Daughter, we see Orenstein at her genre-busting best--and our culture's warped commercialization of girlhood at its worst. A memoir/journalism hybrid, the book intersperses Orenstein's poignant dilemmas as the feminist mom of a young daughter with facts, stats and Orenstein's self-questioning yet somehow non-self-deprecating reflections. . . . Orenstein has no need to argue her case. The facts she unearths do the job." - Meredith Maran, San Francisco Chronicle
"Orenstein . . . is an excellent guide through the sparkly territory young girls increasingly inhabit. . . . In Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Orenstein wrestles with her own ambivalence about the princess culture. . . . And that's part of the book's considerable charm. Her forays into the mysteries of child beauty pageants and toy design are often hilarious, sometimes troubling, always real." - Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe
"A highly entertaining (and disconcerting) romp." - Michael Mechanic, Mother Jones
"A feminist critique in the guise of a chat with a friend, Orenstein's book inspires parents to rethink girlie-girl culture. . . . A veteran journalist and magazine editor, Orenstein sticks to straight observation and sensible commentary on the stupefying effects of mass-marketed girl culture. . . . Orenstein uses a friendly, deceptively informal approach to present a well-researched case against fairy-tale-style femininity. . . . Cinderella Ate My Daughter is entertaining as well as useful, not only for parents of daughters." - Christy DeSmith, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"They're back! Peggy Orenstein reacts to her daughter's embrace of the sinister Disney-princess agenda by reporting on how retro-feminist attitudes of the 50s are being hustled to innocent girls in the blood-chilling Cinderella Ate My Daughter." - Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair
"The cultural critic looks at how beauty pageants, Disney princesses, and Miley Cyrus are shaping young minds. Hint: it isn't pretty." - Karen Holt, O, The Oprah Magazine
"Orenstein is such a breezy, funny, writer, it's easy to forget she's an important thinker too" - Judith Newman, People (four stars)
"If you're anticipating a screeching rant on how parents have turned their daughters into midriff-bearing fembots, you're way off. Orenstein refuses to play the blame game. . . . Though she investigates many subjects you've probably heard too much about-sexting, children's beauty pageants--Orenstein's witty, pointed commentary always adds insight and clarity. . . . Orenstein has given parents invaluable assistance in helping their daughters find their own answers. - Pete Croatto, Bookpage
"Thought-provoking." - Joyce Saenz Harris, Dallas Morning News
"A gripping, hilariously horrifying account of battling for your child's soul in the toy aisle, one that excoriates consumer culture while sympathizing with parents trying to make sense of it all. As a mother of two young Barbie-loving daughters myself, I was riveted by Orenstein's blend of self-deprecation and outrage ." - Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon
"Reading Cinderella Ate My Daughter 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
"With insight and biting humor, the author explores her own conflicting feelings as a mother as she protects her offspring and probes the roots and tendrils of the girlie-girl movement." - Publishers Weekly
"Orenstein has played a defining role in giving voice to this generation of girls and women.... At times this book brings tears to your eyes--tears of frustration with today's girl-culture and also of relief because somebody finally gets it--and is speaking out on behalf of our daughters." - Judith Warner, author of Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety
"She explores the increasing 'pinkification' of girls' worlds, from toys to apparel to tween-targeted websites, and she writes not only as a detached, informed journalist but also as a loving, feminist mother. . . . Orenstein skillfully integrates extensive research that demonstrates the pitfalls of 'the girlie-girl culture's emphasis on beauty and play-sexiness, ' which can increase girls' vulnerability to depression, distorted body images and eating disorders, and sexual risks. It's the personal anecdotes, though, which are delivered with wry self-deprecating, highly quotable humor, that offer the greatest invitation to parents to consider their daughters' worlds and how they can help to shape a healthier, soul-nurturing environment." - Booklist
"Orenstein's reflexive self-interrogation is a good match for her material. It allows her to coax fresh insights from the exhaustively analyzed subject of gender and its discontents. . . . Orenstein allows us to watch her struggle with these questions, and when she arrives at a few answers, they feel well earned. . . . Orenstein is especially sharp-eyed on the subject of what comes after the princess phase. . . . [She] has done parents the great favor of having this important debate with herself on paper and in public; she has fashioned an argument with its seams showing and its pockets turned inside out, and this makes her book far more interesting, and more useful." - Annie Murphy Paul, New York Times Book Review
"[A] witty, well-documented study. . . . Intelligent and richly insightful." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"How I wish I'd had Peggy Orenstein's thought-provoking, wise, and entertaining new book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, both to comfort me and to help me navigate the Pepto Bismol pink aisles of the toy store and the cotton candy pink channels of the TV dial. Every mother needs to read this book." - Ayelet Waldman, author of Bad Mother
"Peggy Orenstein has written an addictively readable book that manages, somehow, to be simultaneously warm and chilling. Cinderella Ate My Daughter will engage, inform, entertain and surprise you. It will also forever alter the way you see the world that girls-and their parents-are, for the most part unconsciously, navigating." - Rebecca Traister, author of Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women
"I wish I'd had Peggy Orenstein's thought-provoking, wise, and entertaining new book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, to comfort me and to help me navigate the Pepto Bismol pink aisles of the toy store and the cotton candy pink channels of the TV dial. Every mother needs to read this." - Ayelet Waldman, author of Bad Mother
"[Peggy Orenstein's] addictively readable book manages, somehow, to be simultaneously warm and chilling" - Rebecca Traister, author of Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women
"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