a.
Article name: Cinderella Ate My Daughter
Author: Peggy Orenstein
b.
I have chosen to do my post on CONNECTIONS
I have chosen to connect
Orenstein’s article with Unlearning the
Myths That Bind Us and Getting Older
Younger. I wanted to start off by
talking about Orenstein’s article, Cinderella
Ate My Daughter. In the article, the
author states, “Princess, has not only become the fastest-growing brand the
company has ever created, it is the largest franchise on the planet for girls
ages two to six,”(14). At such young ages, we are already brain washed into
playing and needing or wanting to have the “hot” toy that’s for sale and whatever
is “popular” at the time. This relates greatly to the reading, “They’re Getting Older Younger”. Teens are heavily influenced by what they see
in the media and get whatever is being mainstreamed, just as these two-six year
old children, and will buy the product no matter the price. The items may include clothes, accessories, babies, American girl
dolls$$$, etc.). Both the teens in that article and the children mentioned in
Orenstein’s, are driven to keep up with the latest products and styles that are
being marketed. In Christensen’s piece, Unlearning
the Myths That Bind us, she talked about how in our society’s culture, the
industry has a major impact on our minds and how it teaches children and teens
how to act, live and dream. That part of the article relates greatly to
Orenstein’s piece, especially when she talks about when she visited the
Fisher-Price showroom. “The preschool girls’ section was decorated with a
banner on which the words BEAUTIFUL, PRETTY, COLORFUL were repeated over and
over (and over) in pink script,”(51). While on the other hand, the boy’s section was in blue, and the titles held words such as energy, heroes, and
power! I find that pretty disgusting those these were the words chosen for
girls and boys. Boys should not think they are the only ones who are capable of power, and girls should not think that all they can ever be is "pretty'? It gives young children the wrong idea of what reality and LIFE really
is. This relates to what I mentioned
early in Christensen’s piece; children are taught what roles they can and
cannot hold, what they can and cannot do, how they should and shouldn't act, etc. These are
distorted views/images that are being displayed for young viewers. . ..\/
The piece
got me so aggregated, and it makes me nervous on how society is going to be
when I have my own children one day. I want them to make there own decisions,
and play with whatever toys they want to play with, and not be pressured into
what the media is advertising and telling us how to act and who to be. “Outside,
on the streets of Manhatten, it was the twenty-first century, but the scene
here in toy land was straight out of Mad
Men, as if the feminist movement had never happened,”(51). In Orenstein’s piece, I found it interesting
that one of her daughter’s friends asked her why her helmet wasn’t pink, and
since it wasn’t pink it wasn’t a girls one. I agree with the author when she
states, “Would other girls view her with suspicion-even exclude her- if she did
not display the proper colors?,”(39). Peer pressure and bullying are starting at such a young
age and continues throughout teenage years and adulthood. Although these articles were focused on different topics, they all seemed to coexist in many ways that I mentioned throughout the blog post.
C. Some things that I would like to discuss in class are, what was your overall reaction to the piece? Do you feel as though you were affected by princesses, barbies, bratz, etc?
(negative or positive)
Are boys the ones who are more limited? (Orenstein mentions this on page 22).
Check out the hyperlinks- reactions?
