From just the title, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, instantly the audience is captured and is wondering what the author, Peggy Orenstein, is trying to express. Does it relate to cannibalism? Upon reading the first chapter the audience can draw the conclusion that the author is not writing about cannibalism; instead, the main message that is being conveyed is that girls should not be raised around the pressures and norms of modern standards. Orenstein “was committed to raising her [daughter] without a sense of limits. [That neither] some behavior or toy or profession was not for her sex nor that it was mandatory for her sex” (Orenstein 2). Her intention for this book is strongly delivered to the audience. Orenstein wants to put the standards that …show more content…
She has visited Disneyland, American Girl Place, beauty pageants, and concerts. Many of these mainstream events and ideas are common to see in a child’s life and by using such well known companies the author allows the audience to make a personal connection to her experiences. She presents the ideas as how they are viewed generally, but also analyzes the deeper meaning behind those ideas. Along with the stories she tells, she provides “ample evidence that the more mainstream media girls consume, the more importance they place on being pretty and sexy” (Orenstein 16). Through the use of ethos, Orenstein builds character around her personal stories to persuade the audience of her point of view and how these ideas can objectify and be harmful to girls. In addition, Orenstein recalls stories of her daughter growing up that relate to the different topics she discusses. The first story presented about her daughter, Daisy, is one where Daisy is imagining herself as Snow White. In this passage, Daisy tries to find her prince. Even though Orenstein is cautious in protecting her child from destructive media and stereotypes, these things still manage to reach her daughter because they are well known by
All and all I think Orenstein does a great job of putting a light on the issues of sexualization of or youth and why so many choose Disney as a form of trying to keep our young girls safe. Money may be a small price to pay in order to keep our little girls from becoming little women too soon.
In the article, “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Affect”, Stephanie Hanes shows the influential impact that young girls, and youth in general, are experiencing in today’s society. This article goes in depth on the issues that impressionable minds experience and how they are reacting as a result. “Depth of gender guidelines” has been introduced to youth all around the world making it apparent that to be a girl, you have to fit the requirements. Is making guidelines of how you should act and look as a gender going too far?
Most children grow up watching Disney princess movies. Girls want to be extraordinary, beautiful, and similar to the princesses seen in these movies in terms of behavior. These movies teach them that they must be fashionable, beautiful and be rescued by a prince in order to be happy. However, these movies have been shown to have negative impacts on these young girls’ life, often resulting in low self-esteem, disobedience, overdependence, and an unrealistic expectation of male partners. As a result, young girls should not be encouraged to watch Disney princess movies because they idolize the characters, which are simply fictitious and just meant for entertainment, and these movies also cause disobedience, low self-esteem and lack of confidence.
A Study Conducted by the American Psychological Association Task Force concluded that sexualization occurs when a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person. The APA Task Force reported many example of the sexualization of girls, such as toy manufactures duce dolls wearing black leather miniskirts, feather boas, and thigh-high boots and market them to 8- to 12-year-old girls. Clothing stores sell thongs sized for 7– to 10-year-old girls, some printed with slogans such as “eye candy” or “wink wink”; other thongs sized for women and late adolescent girls are imprinted with characters from Dr. Seuss and the Muppets. In the world of child beauty pageants, 5-year-old girls wear fake teeth, hair extensions, and makeup and are encouraged to “flirt” onstage by batting their long, false eyelashes. Journalists, child advocacy organizations, parents, and psychologists have become alarmed according to the APA Task Force, arguing that the sexualization of girls is a broad and increasing problem and is harmful to girls, and I for one agree with their proposition.
This creates sinister predators within her short stories through the use of empowering and dangerous women. in ‘The Snow Child’, the use of subversion turns the traditional fable of Snow White’s existence from maternal desire into a child who is the product of paternal desire and sexual fantasy. The original tale of Snow White explores a queen who is driven by her desire for beauty and youth, this is similar within ‘The Snow Child’ as the Countess becomes jealous of the child as the Count begins to favour her. The countess and the child are portrayed as binary opposites throughout the story; as one is clothed, the other is naked. This could reflect the importance of appearance within society, and explain the Countess’ antagonistic response to the child and acts of neglect due to her jealousy of the child’s beauty. Carter’s description of the Countess’ clothing leaves the reader with an idea of her dangerous nature; she wears “pelts of black foxes”, an association suggesting a predatory and cunning nature. She also wears “scarlet heels, and spurs” and it may be that the colour of the heels comes from the actions of the spurs, which adds to this idea of violence. We see this nature when she is threatened by the child regarding the Count’s affections, “wife” becoming “the Countess” in a shift emphasised by finally having her own thoughts and feelings in the
There comes a time in every parents life that their child finally grows up. Unfortunately, the age that this is occurring is decreasing with every generation. In the article “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” the author, Stephanie Hanes, informs us of the growing sexualization that is occurring to the younger generations of girls all over the world. Hanes’ style of organization and use of examples and statistics not only appeals to the audience’s emotions but to the credibility of the article itself. The transition gap between early childhood and early adulthood is becoming smaller and smaller.
According to Refinery 22, “Cinderella” began being a story all about “persecution and the dangers of systematic oppression”.
Jacqueline Schectman is a therapist who has focused on the psychological pattern finding archetypes brought out by stories that resonate with the readers own experiences. She attempts to bridge the connection between the reader 's imagination and real life. In “Cinderella” and a Loss of Father-Love, Schectman takes what her clients take from Cinderella, and uses it to understand their case better. Their interpretation of the story Cinderella reveals what they tend to relate with in their personal lives. While in The Truth about Cinderella, Martin Daly and Margo Wilson explain the statistics of stepparent domestic abuse towards children, sexual and domestic violence. While both authors use Cinderella and her wicked stepmother as the analogy between children and their stepparents, Jacqueline Schectman focuses more on emotional abuse, while Martin Daly and Margo Wilson emphasize physical abuse.
First, Kilbourne’s research should be praised tremendously for bringing to light the unhealthy impression of true beauty in today’s culture. Kilbourne challenges the audience to reconsider their viewpoints on advertising that is sublime with sexual language. The evolution of advertising and product placement has drastically changed the real meaning of being a woman. According to the movie, every American is exposed to hundreds and thousands of advertisements each day. Furthermore, the picture of an “ideal women” in magazines, commercials, and billboards are a product of numerous computer retouching and cosmetics. Media creates a false and unrealistic sense of how women should be viewing themselves. Instead of being praised for their femininity and prowess, women are turned into objects. This can be detrimental to a society filled with girls that are brainwashed to strive to achieve this unrealistic look of beauty.
Are the little girl 's in America being cheated of their privilege of having a childhood? Stephanie Hanes, a freelance journalist, believes so and she decided to express her opinion in the article “ Little girls or Little women ? The Disney Princess Effect”. Hanes argues that today’s society is morally ambiguous because of the sexual messages being sent to young girls. In consequence of this , toddlers now aspire to attain the pre-teen goal to be sexy at such an early age. It all begins with the influence and example that The Disney princesses give to their young fans. For the reason that the article appeared in magazines and in the USA today , the targeted audience must be
“Daisy Miller” follows the story of a young, rich, American girl from Schnectady, New York, traveling around Europe along with her mother and younger brother. The novel expresses Daisy as a multifaceted mixture of characteristics. She’s independent and well intentioned. On the other hand, she’s also petty, oblivious, naïve, and is mainly interested only in manipulating men and making herself the center of attention. Throughout the story, Winterbourne is obsessed over the issue of whether Daisy is good or bad, but her behavior doesn’t reveal which of the two she is or isn’t.
In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes covers the sexualization of young girls and women in every aspect of the media that influences children and teens. She explains that girls see media figures, movies, and sports being sexualized, and how this is causing children to associate looking and acting a certain way to being ‘the perfect women’. Hanes believes the hypersexualized media is causing girls to obtain a negative body image and it’s killing their self-esteem. The author proposes what she believes society should do about overcoming this obstacle, and how people can crush the stereotypes about women; to her everyone is responsible and should aid in fixing these problems. She explains that the media
Not having a parent figure in Cinderella’s life made her feel lonely similar to the feeling of being an outcast. Having no one to seek advice or guidance from, Cinderella grows up feeling abandoned. With two manipulative step sisters making her be the house wench she doesn’t have a social live. The “evil” step mothe...
I can recall a time when the media was influencing my life and actions. The week after I graduated high school, my girlfriends and I took a trip to Cancun, Mexico, where the MTV beach house was located that summer. As I look back on the week of drunken partying and sexy guys, I can only wonder how I made it home alive. How could any young woman find this behavior acceptable? Every young woman there was flaunting their bodies to the young men around them. They were proud to be sexual objects. Where did they learn such debauchery? This is the kind of woman that is portrayed throughout MTV and various other aspects of the media. They have even coined the term “midriff”—the highly sexual character pitched at teenage girls that increasingly populates today’s television shows—in order to hook the teen customer. Teenage women increasingly look to the media to provide them with a ready-made identity predicated on today’s version of what’s “cool.” The media is always telling us that we are not thin enough, we’re not pretty enough, we don’t have the right friends, or we have the wrong friends… we’re losers unless we’re cool. We must follow their example and show as much skin as possible. The type of imagery depicted by MTV-- as well as people like Howard Stern, the famous “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and various Hip Hop songs—glorifies sex and the provocative woman.
Alexandra Scaturchio, in her article “Women in Media” (2008) describes the media’s idea of beauty as superficial. She supports her argument by placing two pictures side-by-side; a picture of a real, normal-looking woman and her picture after it has been severely digitally enhanced. Her purpose is to show young teenage girls that the models they envy for their looks are not real people, but computer designs. She also states, “the media truly distorts the truth and instills in women this false hope because…they will live their lives never truly attaining this ideal appearance”. Scaturchio wants her readers to realize the media’s distorting capabilities and feel beautiful about themselves, even with flaws.