Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy OrensteinMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I would love to say that Cindrella Ate My Daughter is a must-read for every parent. I really enjoyed the book but I do have a special interest in "girl/media" issues. Even so, I found my brain going in circles. Orenstein kept going back and forth through her arguments and investigations. I must say, I was thoroughly confused at points, as was she. In the end, and the reason why parents should be aware of the issues raised in the book, Orenstein concludes that we should be thinking parents. Each parent will make decisions base on his/her own perspective, but they should be informed and educated decisions. Above all, parents need to know their child and keep the lines of communication open.
Discussing everything girl from dolls to beauty pageants, Orenstein gets a close up look at girl culture. Orenstein speaks to experts, to parents and to girls themselves. She probes into their thoughts, habits and opinions. And though we would like to have some black and white irrefutable answers and stances, this is an impossible request. Every single girl is an individual with individual needs. Therefore, what might be right and clear for one girl, will not necessarily be so for another.
Due to my passion for issues surrounding girls and the media, I have sent time in the past thinking about, reading about and discussing many of the issues Orenstein tackles. One issue, however, had completely escaped my radar. The internet. Orenstein shows us how girls and boys use the internet and technology differently. How it affects the way they interact with each other, even when they are face-to-face! I was distressed to hear of a young girl sitting at the computer upstairs while her friend sat at the one downstairs. Their interaction consisting of playing the same game online against each other. I was shocked when Orenstein reported that girls prefer to play "dolls" online through the doll website games to playing with actual dolls. Online, for safety reasons, the dolls have very limited creative play options as all dialogue, etc. is canned. My children emjoyed hours and hours of imaginative, creative, hands-on play. This type of play gave them outlets for role playing a huge variety of situations but also gave them thinking and social skills. I would not trade it for anything.
Cinderella Ate Mt Daughter is a fascinating and informative read. Orenstein really covers the gamut of issues faced by young girls today. She reminds us that we cannot navigate this path of parenthood blindly. We MUST be thinking and involved parents.
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My kids go through Webkinz phases, where they play on-line with their aunt or themselves. But they do a lot of imaginative hands-on too, so I'm not too concerned. I'm a little more worried about what's going on on GoogleBuzz!
ReplyDeleteGreat insight!
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time following along with Orenstien's various lines of thoughts too.
That said, I'm not so sure she was making an argument, this seemed more like an investigation to me. I as particularly fascinated by her discussion of Disney Channel stars and their role in encouraging the sexualization and commodification of girls/tweens/teens.
I also though that she really got at the issue of saturation, as in, how her daughter knew the story of sleeping beauty as a four year old without Orenstien having told it to her, or how it is increasingly difficult to find non-branded children's items.