As Peggy Orenstein’s three year-old daughter entered the “princess phase,” Orenstein became increasingly frustrated. As a feminist, she worried about the negative effects the princess obsession would have on her daughter and other young girls in their futures. In “Cinderella and Princess Culture,” Orenstein sets out to discuss these effects. She discovers that although it seems as if this princess craze is creating negative gender stereotypes at an early age, maybe princess enthusiasts are really benefitting from their obsession. Orenstein has gotten accustomed to adults assuming her daughter likes pink and princesses.
All over the world, girls often go through a "princess phase", made up with anything pink and pretty. When it happened to Peggy Orenstein's daughter, the writer decided to examine the phenomenon. She found that the “girlie-girl” culture was less innocent than it might seem, and can have negative consequences for girls' psychological, social and physical development. From a very young age, girls learn to define themselves from the outside in, and a lot of researches suggest that our culture’s emphasis on physical beauty is the root of problems such as negative body image, depression, eating disorders and high-risk sexual behavior. I strongly agree with the Peggy Orenstein’s article.
Now that’s growing up without a childhood. Jane Smiley seems like a great parent who cares about her children but to allow her daughters to put on makeup even entering their teenage years just isn’t right. Her girls where prematurely growing up, where behaving beyond their age, and with their only priority being beautiful at all times it seem to help them in the long run. As they burned off the “Barbie stage” and grew into more important things down their lives. Like for example Smiley talks about her older daughter, “Now she is planning to graduate school and law school and become an expert on woman’s health issues, perhaps adolescent health issues like anorexia and bulimia” (377).
The pageant moms pay hundreds of dollars to have the “best of the best” spray their child down with a can of orange spray paint. As any toddler would, the princesses usually scream and pout and resist all attempts at being hosed down until their mothers promise them a brand new pony after it’s all over. After having their skin damaged beyond repair from the chemicals of a spray tan, they move on to their nails. The whole family joins the beauty queen in receiving her full spa treatment complete with manicure, pedicure and massage. I mean how could we expect a four year old to deal with the stress of a pageant without a full body massage?
Not only does she try to impress everyone with her appearance but she also goes along with Char, and gets in trouble because she has no ability to say no and walk away. Maleeka takes the blame at first, but towards the end of the novel she gets her courage and tells on Char. She finally finds herself and realizes she is beautiful without Chars expensive clothing. She also realized she doesn’t need to stick out; she just needs to be herself. In the end Maleeka and Caleb are backed together and Maleeka is friends with Miss Saunders.
Orenstein began with an anecdote expressing her frustration with the princess theme, then talked about different product lines with the princess theme. From there she jumped from criticizing mothers that fell for the princess trend to how Disney’s princess product line started and finally finishes with references to studies about change in different aspects of a girl’s life. Along with their differences in approach, there also was a major difference in effectiveness. Poniewozik’s article was much more structured going from movie to movie explaining its impact on a girl’s life and stuck to one point which came across very effective. Orenstein, on the other hand, jumped from topic to topic without much of a connection and supported her claims with very little evidence, so it failed to be effective in getting her point
Kahlil M. Barrett English 1102 Susan Laplant 24 April 2013 Pimping My Child When a person thinks of a little girl and everything that she is supposed to represent, the first thing that comes to mind is a joyful little child wearing pink overalls. Perhaps she even has a little tea set with stuffed animals and Barbie dolls. They can see her hair in pigtails or little braids with hair bows on the end. That’s a pretty cute and vivid picture right? Now what if little girls who are barely 5 years old could now wear high heels, cake on pounds of make-up, plaster on fake eyelashes, and wear the brightest shade of red lipstick as possible?
As the mother of two daughters I always want for my daughters what I feel was lacking in my life. It makes sense to me that Nanny’s idea of success and freedom is being wealthy and idle. That was what was literally beaten into Nanny. I think in real life, as with Nanny, mothers can get so blinded by their own agenda and their attempt to fulfill their own dreams through their daughter that they don’t stop to ask what their child wants. While I understand that this may not be the ideal way to handle a situation, I believe that Nanny did the best she could considering her experiences.
In addition to creating a new female aesthetic and a place for women in the arts, her children were highly involved with the creative process which occurred. I believe this was a project between a mother and her children, and due to the process being placed into the limelight with its success, received raised eyebrows because of the confident nature of the project. I have looked at Mann’s photographs and I see them as a family album; yes the images are extreme, but they still hold a sense of tenderness. I believe the images are maternal, but the argument will never be concluded as with new people comes new
Although women of today are no longer considered by the 1950s stereotype of what women ‘should be’ society continues to define and restrict their rolls by judging them – in many ways even more severely that they did before. In many areas of society a woman’s worth is not judged on her talents but rather on her appearance. The media have a key role to play in this warped perception of what matter. Magazines and newspapers play a big part in society is `dehumanizing by failing to show respects for the dignity of women and making them and men equal. In 2001 the Daily Star wrote an article on how the fifteen year old singer, Charlotte Church, was becoming a woman and becoming more mature by saying "She's a big girl now... looking chest swell".