Sandra’s review of Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture > Likes and Comments

I doubt it's worthwhile to comment on such a strong reaction, but what if your idea of what qualifies as feminine is almost entirely a social construct (and it clearly is, if you consider history and other cultures)? That would raise the question of why are we so convinced that pink princesses, unicorns, and cupcakes are the epitome of femininity? Who's responsible? Who benefits? What are the knock-on effects? Are they good for women, their status in society, their appreciation of and acceptance of their non-Barbie, non-Elsa bodies? As a man who wears pink and preferred dolls to sports (and yet is somehow heterosexual) I find the whole pink and blue binary pretty reductive: I don't think it truly reflects the diversity of human personalities. I try to raise my daughter in accordance with this belief. Pink? Sure. Just don't forget to try brown, blue, green, orange, aquamarine with purple and yellow polkadots, etc. And if everyone around her is telling her pink is the right choice and she should put down that "masculine" toy car and pick up a "feminine" Barbie, then she may need to be protected from some of that pressure in order to find her true self -- this is what I believe Ms Orenstein is promoting.