Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
By Peggy Orenstein
HarperCollins, 2011. 244 pgs. Nonfiction

Over a decade ago, Peggy Orenstein wrote a book called Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap. She has since been regarded as a leading voice advocating for the need to empower young women with confidence and positive role models. Now the mother of a six year old daughter, Peggy presents a much less theoretical discourse on the battle parents are fighting against the pink tulle nets of consumerism that seem to have ensnared an entire generation. From Disney Princesses to Hannah Montana, this desperate mother investigates the effect these role models are having on the attitudes and aptitudes of young girls.

Orenstein writes with wit and a great deal of humility as she faces the limited control she has over our culture’s influence in her daughter’s life. She is constantly facing a delicate balance between raising a cynic and an unquestioning conformer. Parents may not find answers here to all the difficulties they face when raising girls, but they will find a kindred spirit and comforting camaraderie.

CZ