There are many things I am profoundly grateful for, especially regarding
my daughter. One of the more minor ones is this: She's three and so
far blessedly free of the Disney Princess contagion. Until yesterday,
when allowed to choose a present from the potty training bribe bag (a
bag of cheap dollar store presents which please God are not chock-full
of lead), she picked a tinsel tiara. She was remarkably pleased with
the effect. And then she said the words I have been fearing: "I want a
princess costume."
Timely, at least, because I'd been mulling this Barbara Ehrenreich piece
from The Nation. It's full of her typical razor wit, annd mostly
spot-on. While I think she goes a little far – equating princesses with
date rape drugs? Really? – I agree that the whole phenomenon is lame,
lame, lame, and not especially healthy for little girls.
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