

In 2011, Peggy Orenstein wrote a book about it called Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. Disney princesses in particular work as the engine of a massive marketing campaign that fuels a $4 billion industry.

If you want to sell something to little girls right now, chances are you'll slap a princess on it. "And they brought out, at the Korean restaurant, a princess plate to try to entice her to eat," Ragsdale says, laughing. For example, she describes a recent visit to a Korean restaurant where her daughter refused to try the unfamiliar food. Kami Ragsdale, a mom at the party, says these little girls are so princess-obsessed that it's typical for grown-ups to use princesses as leverage. I'm waiting for the Snow White coffin so we can go womb to tomb.
