Cinderella Ate My Daughter - Orenstein

Extended Comments

I like how Noelle put Orenstein's main argument that we are not teaching girls how to be a girl, but instead on how to be a princess. The Disney princess just teaches girls how to be feminine (and what femininity should look like), how they live the fairytale, and finally how they must get the perfect man. It's tough to deny this of a little girl though. I was Belle from Beauty and The Beast for Halloween at least three times when I was younger. I watched every Disney princess movie too. I lived in the fairytale world and wanted my "prince charming". But is this really the example we should set for little girls today? I don't think there's anyway around it. When I think of fairytales though, it's always the princess being saved by the hero, or the prince. Very rarely is it the other way around.

I like how Noelle's blog continues to go on about how we only see one type of princess. They're always beautiful, have long hair, are skinny, and so on. I love how she brought up how we've yet to see a bald princess, or a plus size princess. Why must everything that we do revolve around the way people look. I don't think someone's beautiful just because they have all the physical characteristics of a princess, or prince. I don't think this sets the right example for little girls because it shows how they can only be happy if they look like a princess, and that is not the case. A better lesson to teach is how to be happy with yourself no matter what you look like.
Finally when Orenstein talks about how pink is coded in little girls DNA. I don't know if this is completely true, I know a lot of girls who really don't like the color at all. I like the color a lot. I think it stands out just because its light and bright compared to other colors though. I don't believe I've been programmed to love the color pink. I think society has just forced pink on girls. If you walk into a baby shower for a little girl, the entire room is wall to wall pink! The color has been chosen even before the little girl has the chance to decide for herself.