Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein

In the essay, “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect”, author Stephanie Hanes focuses on the sexualization of women especially young girls. Hanes explains how modern movies, magazines, and the internet force women to look and act a certain way which forces young girls to grow up thinking they have to be perfect. Hanes starts her essay off with a short story that the reader can connect with. Mary Finucane, the mother of Caoimhe, noticed that her daughter was becoming less and less interested in running, jumping and playing, but more interested in wearing dresses and waiting for her “prince.”

Other women are often portrayed as roadblocks in the way of happy endings. For example, the only young women that Cinderella regularly interacts with are her step sisters. They compete for her prince and are selfishly unloyal even to each other. This theme has been adopted from Disney movies by young girls, as illustrated in Peggy Orenstein’s New York Times best selling book Cinderella Ate My Daughter. She describes an emotional interaction between her daughter Daisy and her best friend while playing pretend. The friend, devastated because there could only be one Cinderella, cried Daisy had claimed that role. Orenstein realizes “there is only one...girl who gets to be exalted. Princesses...do not have girlfriends.” The media that Daisy watched directly impacted her friendship. The significance of this issue is depicted in a study by William M. Bukowski at Concordia University from the Center of Research and Human Development. He found one friendship formed decreases depression and mental health issues significantly. Due to the deep penetration of Disney’s ideals in school age children, young girls may view each other as competition, diminishing the number of meaningful friendships and consequently, their mental

Growing up in today’s society can be traumatizing for any child. When it comes to growing up as a young girl, however, it can be downright devastating, but not only for the child but the parent as well. There are so many decisions to be made when choosing how to raise your child, assuring that you have instilled proper values to develop a healthy sense of self-worth and confidence.

In the essay, “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros, she explains that she has six brothers and she is the only daughter. This relates to me because I am also in a Mexican family, however, I am not the only daughter. Cisneros argues that her father wanted her to get married because that is what daughters were meant to do; that although he agreed on her going to college, it was because he was sure she was going to find a husband. Many Mexican fathers today have this mentality that because they were not able to study, their children are not going to be able to study either and they are going to have to work. However, there are other fathers that because of the fact that they did not obtain the education they desired, the only hope they have is in their children; for the children to be better than them, succeed and become a professional in any area they choose. Cisneros spends a lot of time alone and writes her experience as an only daughter in a family full of sons, which is difficult because her father constantly degrades her and doesn’t value her as a writer. Support and encouragement from a parent is very important because that can help shape a child’s life from a very young age.

Today everywhere you look girls of every age seem to be caught in the glitz and glam of being that fairytale princess from the stories of their childhood. In “What’s Wrong With Cinderella?” Peggy Orenstein argues that it has come to a point where the craze for princesses has corrupted the minds of the young girls everywhere, and how it may be teaching them self-worth it has also led groups of girls to believe that they can lead the same lives as these fictional princess characters that sing to creatures and have magical powers. Also, to make matters worse companies like Disney keep feeding into this hidden epidemic of.

1.Throughout our readings we have seen gender performed in many ways from Toddlers in Tiaras to the discussion of Feminist Masculinity and the questions of motherhood and its prices. In Cinderella Ate my Daughter, Peggy Orenstein lays out the many way we have taught our girl to be princesses and argues whether or not the princess culture is good for young girls. Orenstein talks about how toy companies are gendering not only their toys, but also their advertisements making everything glitter pink or baby blue. She even talks about how babies weren’t colored coded until the early twentieth century. Orenstein lays it all starting from the beginning with girls and the color pink and taking it to the end with female bodies and objectification.

The Disney Princess streak was created in 2001 as publicity and advertising campaign directed toward girls (Orenstein 2006). The first of the Disney Princess movies was released in 1937, A very popular marketing franchise has strengthened the popularity of the Disney Princess line (Disney Princess 2010). The marketing campaign wants to attract girls with the ultimate goal of encouraging children to personally identify with the characters so they will buy the related items (Do Rozario 2004). Disney and its princess phenomena have been distinguished as a capable impact on kids' media and item consumerism, adding to another "girlhood" that is to a great extent characterized by sexual orientation, gender and the utiltization of related items and messages (Giroux 1997; Lacroix 2004; McRobbie 2008; Orenstein 2006). The desired qualities related with being a princess can create psychological issues for girls and varied messages

Dreams and aspirations can have a positive or negative effect. This can affect people and the world around you in a positive way or negative way. In the stories, “The Only Daughter” and “Joy Luck Club”, the daughters both are expected to become something from their parents, and it is up to them whether or not they follow along that path or make their own. In the book Joy Luck Club a girl named Jing-Mei is pushed by her mother to become a prodigy of different idols to make her instantly famous in America, this will be an example of negative dream and aspirations.

In both the dramatic monologue “Lethal” and the story “She Had It Coming” by Joyce Carol Oates, the main topic being addressed is rape and sexual assault. Both pieces feature some different viewpoints of rape: the former being from the point of view of a potential rapist, where the latter is society’s view of a woman who is gang raped. When someone is raped, however, they have one very important feature about themselves: they are vulnerable, or have a sense of vulnerability. In my mind, the word vulnerability applies to how susceptible someone is to being attacked or harmed. The dictionary definition of vulnerability also defines it as “capable of being physically or emotionally wounded” (“Vulnerable”). In both of these pieces, the people that are raped or sexually assaulted are definitely vulnerable. If either of the victims were not vulnerable, then they would not have been attacked or raped in the first place. Anyway, the victims in these pieces are vulnerable because they are both victims of sexual assault; they are completely overtaken by their male predators and, like the definitions said, physically and emotionally wounded. This is definitely shown in the first piece by Oates, “Lethal.” One of the ways the author portrays this vulnerability in the victim is through the diction of the predator. The predator starts off by saying more innocent things to the victim, like “I just want to touch you a little.” This doesn’t expose the victim’s vulnerability as much as when

Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah is a very depressing story. It is about a young girl who is unwanted by her family. No one loves her and she is very sad. Chinese Cinderella is a depressing story, because her own father whips her, her stepmother, Niang, slaps her, and she gets sent off to St. Joseph's boarding school. Chinese Cinderella is a very depressing story because her own father whips her. "

Have you ever been mistreated by your parents? Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah, is about an unwanted Chinese daughter. Adeline is mistreated by her father and stepmother. She experiences many negative hardships, but in the end realizes school is her way out. Adeline remains true to herself, looks to her future, and remains resilient during her childhood.

Up the Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman, is a novel about Sylvia Barrett, a new teacher at an under privileged inner-city school. She is an English teacher assigned to room 304 at Calvin Coolidge High School. She is a hard working teacher and wants to make a difference in the education system. She also wants to help her students learn and do well. One of her students is Joe Ferone. Ferone is a rebellious student who barely ever goes to class. Miss Barrett wants to help Joe after school sessions but he never shows up. She tries very hard to make a difference in this child but she has a very hard time.

The loneliness, the misery, of not being accepted into their own family. The story of Cinderella is told throughout the world, but is adapted to the cultural ways of the teller. The story, Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, is told from the view of a chinese girl during the midst of World War II. She shares her journey to survive the advancing communists in China and more importantly, her family. There are many similarities and differences between the family values in Chinese Cinderella, compared to the ones found in the Western society.

Dear teacher, allow me to provide you with some insight on who my little sister, Lizbeth Galarza, truly is. At first glance, she might look like every other Ecuadorian girl with her thick dark brown hair, deep, small brown eyes, and her short legs; but don 't let that fool you her small legs have already taken her so far in life. At 15 years old, she has learned to identify herself as being both Ecuadorian and American and being proud of both parts of her, which wasn 't so easy for her. She has achieved this by being surrounded by two completely different environments, one at home and the other at school.

Are tiaras, dresses, princes, and castles destroying the minds of our youth? Most adults believe that children are heavily influenced by the things they see around them, mostly having a negative impact on their development. A phenomenon that follows this ideal are the ever so popular Disney princesses. Disney princesses are a staple of childhood interests, especially for young girls. Girls are more interested in princesses than boys, mostly due to gender biases, so for the sake of consistency, this paper will discuss the princesses’ role in the lives of little girls. I myself have great experience with Disney princesses, from watching their movies to