Cinderella Ate My Daughter

by Peggy Orenstein

  98 children’s television advertising: Author’s interview with Diane Levin, May 18, 2009; Levin and Carlsson-Paige, The War Play Dilemma, pp. 3–5, 15–17.

  99 rather than engaging in creative play: Author’s interview with Diane Levin, May 18, 2009; Levin and Carlsson-Paige, The War Play Dilemma, pp. 3–5.

  100 Allied commanders banned: Thomas O’Neill, “Guardians of the Fairy Tale: The Brothers Grimm,” National Geographic, December 1999, www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/article .html.

  100 we avoid the Grimms’ grimness: Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment.

  100 the brothers’ gore: Ibid., p. 19.

  100 John Locke, disagreed: Ruth B. Bottigheimer, “Fairy Tales and Folk-Tales,” p. 154; John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, pp. 189–190.

  100 fairy tales and only: Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment, pp. 35–41.

  100 In their tiny minds: Ibid.; see, e.g., pp. 24–27, 39–40, 57–58.

  100 the solutions to life’s struggles: Ibid., pp. 4–5, 25–26.

  102 Calling the Grimms’: Maria Ibido, “Reading the Grimms’ Children’s Stories and Household Tales,” pp. xxvii–xlvii.

  102 Before the Grimms: Ibid., pp. xlii–xliii; Giambattista Basile, “Sun, Moon, and Talia.”

  102 the porn of their day: Maria Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, pp. xiii–xiv.

  102 They were also rife: Ibid., pp. 10–11, 20.

  102 The brothers’ delicacy: Ibid.

  103 There are at least: Some scholars put the number at 345, others at “thousands.” For a list of some of them (and links to online texts), see “Tales Similar to Cinderella” at www.surlalune fairytales.com/cinderella/other.html.

  103 The Chinese Yeh-Shen: This is the first known recorded version of a Cinderella story. See also Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, p. 114.

  104 splitting the mother: Tatar, The Hard Facts, p. 223.

  105 she demands that he: Joan Gould, Spinning Straw into Gold, p. 70.

  107 In the Andersen version: Hans Christian Andersen, Hans Christian Andersen: Eighty Fairy Tales, pp. 46–63.

  108 the heroine shrewdly foiled: Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, “The Robber Bridegroom,” in Grimm and Grimm, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, pp. 187–193.

  108 a feisty girl saved her sisters: Grimm and Grimm, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, pp. 201–207.

  108 a princess fearlessly: Ibid., pp. 291–300.

  109 a seven-year vow of silence: Ibid., pp. 224–231.

  109 I loved Diane Wolkstein’s: Diane Wolkstein, The Glass Mountain.

  109 an Algonquin Indian legend: Katrin Tchana and Trina Schart Hyman, “Nesoowa and the Chenoo,” in Tchana and Hyman, The Serpent Slayer, pp. 13–18.

  109 imagined in a “vivid dream”: Stephenie Meyer, “The Story Behind Twilight,” www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html.

  109 more than 100 million copies: John A. Sellers, “New Stephenie Meyer Novella Arriving in June,” Publisher’s Weekly, March 30, 2010. The Harry Potter series has sold more than three times as many volumes, but though the books are fantasy, I do not consider them to be fairy tales.

  109 films based on the first two: Global grosses for New Moon, which broke opening-day records, were nearly $710 million as of June 8, 2010. Global grosses for Twilight were nearly $410 million. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=newmoon.htm; http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=twilight.htm.

  109 No wonder it has been: Sara Vilkomerson, “Why Is Twilight Such Crack for Girls?” The New York Observer, November 20, 2008, www.observer.com/2008/o2/why-twilight-such-crack -girls; Sarah Hepola, “ ‘Twilight’ of Our Youth,” Salon, November 16, 2009, www.salon.com/life/feature/2009/11/16/twilight_of_our_youth; Tracee Sioux, “Empowering Girls: Twilight, Female Crack Cocaine.”

  111 “some fear they can’t”: Cited in Hepola, “‘Twilight’ of Our Youth.”

  111 “some things, it seems”: Laura Miller, “Touched by a Vampire,” Salon, July 30, 2008, www.salon.com/books/review/2008/07/30/Twilight.

  Chapter 7: Wholesome to Whoresome: The Other Disney Princesses

  114 Until the publication: Bruce Handy, “Miley Knows Best,” Vanity Fair, June 2008, www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/ 2008/06/miley200806.

  114 Miley was quoted: Ibid.

  114 releasing a formal: Brooks Barnes, “Revealing Photo Threatens a Major Disney Franchise,” The New York Times, April 28, 2008, p. C1.

  115 Bruce Handy asked: Handy, “Miley Knows Best.”

  116 Anne Sweeney: Karl Taro Greenfeld, “How Mickey Got His Groove Back,” Portfolio, May 2008, www.portfolio.com/news -markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/04/14/Disneys -Evolving-Business-Model; Julia Boorstin, “Disney’s ’Tween Machine,” Fortune, September 29, 2003, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/09/29/349896/index.htm.

  116 Within a year: Boorstin, “Disney’s ’Tween Machine.”

  117 Duff quit: Stephen M. Silverman, “Lizzie McGuire Star Divorces Disney,” People, May 27, 2003, www.people.com/people/article/0,26334,626089,00.html.

  117 Disney simply replicated: Boorstin, “Disney’s ’Tween Machine”; Greenfeld, “How Mickey Got His Groove Back.”

  118 200 million viewers globally: Stephen Armstrong, “Teen Queen Is a Global Brand,” The Sunday Times, May 21, 2009, cited on www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=316998.

  118 Billboard’s top five: Ibid.

  118 some were later scalped: Stephen M. Silverman, “Possible Hannah Montana Ticket Scalping Probed,” People, October 4, 2007, www.people.com/people/article/0,,20137827,00.html.

  118 The limited-release: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id =hannahmontanaconcert.htm.

  118 more than $155 million worldwide: http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=hannahmontanamovie.htm.

  118 Cyrus is on track: Greenfeld, “How Mickey Got His Groove Back.”

  119 By age eleven: Kristin Mcmurran, “Shirley Temple Black Taps Out a Telling Memoir of Child Stardom,” People, November 28, 1988, www.people.com/people/archive/article/ 0,,20100608,00.html.

  120 MGM forced: Christopher Finch, Rainbow, pp. 134–135.

  120 a navel-baring swimsuit: There is a picture of said event at www.beachpartymoviemusic.com/TheMythoftheHidden Navel.html.

  120 Hilary Duff appeared: See the cover of Maxim, August 2007.

  120 “your favorite witch”: Stephen Schaefer, “Tarted-up Hart Draws ‘Sabrina’ Fire,” USA Today, November 17, 1999, www .usatoday.com/life/enter/leps004.htm.

  120 she has been accused: TMZ Staff, “Vanessa Hudgens Attacks over Naked Pics,” August 6, 2009, www.tmz.com/2009/08/06/vanessa-hudgens-nude-photos/.

  120 a film starring: Roger Ebert, “Review: Freaky Friday,” Chicago Sun-Times, August 6, 2003, http://rogerebert.sun times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030806/RE VIEWS/308060301/1023.

  121 “a sleazy, inept and worthless”: William Booth, “Critics Everywhere Agree: These Were the Stinkers of Summer,” The Washington Post, September 12, 2007, www.washingtonpost .com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091102208 .html.

  121 Lohan, who admitted to drug use: Jennifer Vineyard, “Lindsay Lohan Admits Eating Disorder, Drug Use in Vanity Fair Interview,” MTV News, January 4, 2006, www.mtv.com/news/articles/1519731/20060104/lohan_lindsay.jhtml.

  122 publicly insisted on her chastity: “Britney’s Boast Busts Virgin Myth,” July 9, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertain ment/3052143.stm.

  122 she appeared on the cover: www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/05/28/lady-gaga-appears-semi-naked-on-roll ing-stone-and-more-controversial-nude-front-covers-from -the-last-twenty-years-115875-21396496/; see also John Harris, “Britney Spears: This Baby Doll Means Business,” The Independent, May 14, 2000, www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/britney-spears-this-baby-doll-means-busi ness-717538.html.

  122 in an Esquire interview: Chuck Klosterman, “Bending Spoons with Britney Spears,” Esquire, October 1, 2008, www.es quire.com/women/women-we-love/bri
tney-spears-pics -1103?click=main_sr.

  123 “slore”: Melanie Lowe, “Colliding Feminisms: Britney Spears, ‘Tweens,’ and the Politics of Reception,” Popular Music and Society 26, no. 2 (2003): 123–140.

  123 Over the course: See “Britney Spears Biography,” www.people .com/people/britney_spears/biography.

  126 she chooses clothing that: Tim Nudd, “Miley Cyrus: Being a Role Model Starts with the Clothes,” People, December 20, 2007, www.people.com/people/article/0,,20167543,00 .html.

  127 “any parent’s antidote”: The Barbara Walters Special, ABC, February 24, 2008, video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfJ0wV6TjL8.

  127 Once again, controversy: See, e.g., Katherine Thomson, “Miley Cyrus’ Teen Choice Pole Dance (Video),” The Huffington Post, August 10, 2009, www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/10/mi ley-cyrus-teen-choice-p_n_255338.html.

  127 lying on a table: Holly Millea, “Miley Cyrus Cover Shoot,” Elle, July 27, 2009, www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Cover-Shoots/Mi ley-Cyrus2/Miley-Cyrus-Cover-Shoot.

  128 Bridgit Mendler: Belinda Luscombe, “Making New Mileys: Disney’s Teen-Star Factory,” Time, October 22, 2009, www .time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1930657,00.html.

  129 A Wall Street Journal profile: Amy Chozick, “Creating the Next Teen Star,” The Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574374561767358856.html.

  129 Although she is actually: Ibid.

  129 “true love waits” ring: Katherine Thomson, “Miley Cyrus on God, Remaking ‘Sex and the City’ and Her Purity Ring,” Weblog entry, The Huffington Post, July 15, 2008, www .huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/15/miley-cyrus-on-god -remaki_n_112891.html; “Disney Tween Selena’s Vow of Abstinence,” Extra, June 9, 2008, http://extratv.warnerbros .com/2008/06/disney_tween_selenas_vow_of_ab.php.

  Chapter 8: It’s All About the Cape

  135 nearly half of girls: For an overview of research on preadolescent girls’ body image, see Dohnt and Tiggemann, “Body Image Concerns in Young Girls.” See also Jessica Bennett, “Say ‘Cheese!’ and Now Say ‘Airbrush!’ ” Newsweek, February 16, 2008, www.newsweek.com/2008/02/16/say-cheese-and-now -say-airbrush.html; Peggy Orenstein, Schoolgirls, p. 97.

  136 pinups of mid-nineteenth-century: Peter N. Stearns, Fat History, p. 9.

  136 Those not blessed: Ibid., p. 80.

  136 Children were considered sickly: Ibid., pp. 140–148.

  136 overweight was first linked: Ibid., pp. 25–47.

  136 Fat did not take on: Ibid., pp. 48–70.

  138 has become the single: Orenstein, Schoolgirls, p. 94; Brown et al., “Changes in Self-Esteem in Black and White Girls Between the Ages of 9 and 14 Years.”

  138 must be derived: Self-esteem is defined as “the value an individual attaches to the mental picture of himself or herself.” Patterns of self-esteem are made up of combinations of competence and worthiness: Carol Lynn Martin and Richard Fabes, Discovering Childhood Development, p. 301. If what makes a girl feel “high worth” is looking sexy and she achieves that, her self-esteem may be great but perhaps not derived from the most appropriate or most sustainable of sources. What’s more, as the psychologist Jean Twenge has pointed out, self-esteem without basis breeds narcissism. “Study Sees Rise in Narcissism Among Students,” Day to Day, NPR, February 27, 2007, www .npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyid=7618722&ps=rs.

  138 an article I recently saw: “Stars Who Make over 40 Look Fab,” More, October 2009, www.more.com/2049/9377-stars-who -make-over-40#1. To be fair, the magazine also ran groundbreaking pictures of the famously fit actress Jamie Lee Curtis, then forty-three, posed in her underwear, without benefit of stylists, makeup, or Photoshop. She looked as bulgy as any of us. The next page showed Curtis glammed up like a star—a transformation, she said, that took thirteen people three hours to achieve. Amy Wallace, “Jamie Lee Curtis: True Thighs,” More, September 2002, www.more.com/2049/2464-jamie -lee-curtis-true-thighs.

  138 “Should women simply”: Cited in Catherine Saint Louis, “Appreciating Your Value as You Age,” The New York Times, March 18, 2010, p. E3.

  139 Most of the 9.3 million: American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank Statistics.

  139 a new picture book: Michael Salzhauer, My Beautiful Mommy; the recommended reading level for this book on Amazon .com is four to eight years of age; www.amazon.com/Beautiful -Mommy-Michael-Alexander-Salzhauer/dp/1601310323.

  139 Nearly 43,000 children: American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank Statistics.

  139 That does not include: Ibid.

  139 the 12,000: Catherine Saint Louis, “This Teenage Girl Uses Botox. No, She’s Not Alone,” The New York Times, August 12, 2010, p. E1.

  140 for girls growing up: Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Body Project, p. xxi.

  141 try not commenting: A 2004 survey of 3,000 women in ten countries commissioned by Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign found that only 2 percent of women said they would describe themselves as beautiful, while two-thirds said they avoided basic activities—including going to work or school and voicing opinions—on days they felt unattractive. Nancy Etcoff, Susie Orbach, Jennifer Scott, and Heidi D’Agostino, “The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report,” www.cam paignforrealbeauty.com/uploadedfiles/dove_white_paper_ final.pdf.

  142 I took the quandary: Author’s interview with Catherine Steiner-Adair, director of eating disorders education and prevention at the Klarman Eating Disorders Center at McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass., May 2, 2010.

  146 Consider a 2007 survey: Catalyst, The Double-Bind Dilemma.

  147 40 percent of men: J. Walter Thompson, “Millennial Women Face Gender Issues,” press release, April 24, 2008.

  148 “Excellent question!”: Marc Santora, “Pointed Question Puts McCain in Tight Spot,” The New York Times, November 14, 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/us/politics/14mccain.html.

  148 Rush Limbaugh declared: Ellen Goodman, “Eek! It’s a Wrinkle!” December 19, 2007, www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071219_eek_its_a_wrinkle/.

  148 “aging and resentful female”: Christopher Hitchens, “Identity Crisis,” Slate, January 7, 2008, www.slate.com/id/2181460/.

  148 the novelist Susanna Moore: Susan Morrison, ed., Thirty Ways of Looking at Hillary. New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani commented that the book underscored “this willful focus on the personal” in the analysis of Clinton; see “Candidate Clinton Scrutinized by Women,” The New York Times, January 15, 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/books/15kaku.html.

  148 “The mind . . . strays”: Robin Givhan, “Wearing the Pants,” The Washington Post, December 9, 2007, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/08/AR2007120801502 .html.

  148 she used her position: Jo Becker, Peter S. Goodman, and Michael Powell, “Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes,” The New York Times, September 14, 2008, p. A1; Katie Couric, “One-on-One with Sarah Palin,” CBS Evening News, September 24, 2008, www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/24/eveningnews/main4476173.shtml.

  149 Palin had been dubbed: Carolyn Lockhead, “Who’s Sarah Palin? She’s Hot Where He’s Not,” Weblog entry, “Below the Beltway,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 1, 2008, www.sfgate .com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?blogid=14&entry _id=24593.

  149 a woman at a firehouse: Tony Plohetski, “Defacing at Fire Station Unsolved,” The Austin American-Statesman, January 10, 2007, www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1765197/posts.

  151 the culture ultimately offers: Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, Packaging Girlhood.

  153 the movement went alt-rock: Hole, in turn, paved the way for Alanis Morissette, whose 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill, a sometimes scathing—but endlessly catchy—ode to female coming-of-age, was one of the decade’s top sellers.

  154 something called “girlie feminism”: See Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, Manifesta (10th Anniversary Edition), p. 80.

  Chapter 9: Just Between You, Me, and My 622 BFF
s

  160 A digital divide was looming: Matthew DeBell and Chris Chapman, Computer and Internet Use by Children and Adolescents in 2003, p. v.

  160 35 million kids: Ibid., p. iii.

  161 Girls spend the same: Ibid., p. v.

  161 Girls, meanwhile, are: Amanda Lenhart, Mary Madden, Aaron Smith, and Alexandra Macgill, Teens and Social Media.

  161 Doll sales have declined: Lini S. Kadaba, “Girls Abandon Dolls for Web-based Toys,” The Philadelphia Enquirer, March 31, 2010, www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/89579552.html #axzz0nvMSGtfF.

  162 It chilled me: Ibid.

  162 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act: For more on COPPA, see www.coppa.org/coppa.htm.

  163 3.7 million teens: Mike Shields, “Kids’ Virtual Worlds Gain Traction,” Mediaweek, May 22, 2009, www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i9659c5aa3ebf28066173d de9ce1c5366.

  165 young people’s real-life identities: Author’s interview with Adriana Manago, Department of Psychology and Children’s Digital Media Center, UCLA, May 7, 2010; Adriana Manago, Michael B. Graham, Patricia M. Greenfield, and Goldie Salimkhan, “Self-Presentation and Gender on MySpace.”

  166 scores of the 16,475: “Study Sees Rise in Narcissism Among Students,” Day to Day, February 27, 2007, www.npr.org/tem plates/story/story.php?storyId=7618722&ps=rs; Associated Press, “College Students Think They’re So Special,” February 27, 2007, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17349066/.

  166 empathy, too, seems: “Empathy: College Students Don’t Have as Much as They Used to, Study Finds,” Science Daily, May 29, 2010, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/ 2010/05/100528081434.htm.

  167 provocative photos: Author’s interview with Adriana Manago; Manago et al., “Self-Presentation and Gender on MySpace.”

  168 the first high-profile case: Jennifer Steinhauer, “Verdict in MySpace Suicide Case,” The New York Times, November 27, 2008, p. A25.

  169 Phoebe Prince: Brian Ballou and John Ellement, “9 Charged in Death of South Hadley Teen, Who Took Life After Bullying,” The Boston Globe, March 29, 2010, www.boston.com/news/ local/breaking_news/2010/03/holding_for_pho.html.