Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Cinderella Ate My Daughter

by Peggy Orenstein

This will be my last book for a while I think as the class of 2022 checks in tomorrow to NYU residence halls.  Finished a read about the perplexing problem of how to raise a female in the 21^st century.  Author/sociologist Peggy Orenstein makes her case (based on research) that young girls are missing the role models they need in this day and age. They grow up with immense pressure to be physically attractive, faced with the constant threat of being called “fat” “ugly” or a “slut”. The behavior of female teens, based on this messaging from society, is leading them to fall prey to low self-esteem, drugs, suicide, and engaging in early-age, pre-marital sex.  Orenstein’s book was published in 2011, right in the middle of the Miley Cyrus craze and the Disney movies featuring princesses that succumb to the desires of princes.  Orenstein uses data focused on young and teenage girls to strengthen her points.  She holds no punches in an explosive attack on this generation’s sense of morals.  She speaks with a Disney executive who validates that money is the impetus for all decisions, even if it may be hurting young girls’ self-esteem.  Orenstein goes back to the era of FDR as one of the pivotal moments where gender was linked to color (blue = boys, girls = pink) and describes how societal expectations have gotten worse since then.  Feminists, sociologists, and supportive males will feel more than validated by this analysis of young girls and the pressures they face in our society.  Not much new for me on this front, even having raised two boys, but appreciate the reminder to be aware of how our actions can stereotype a gender.