Cinderella goes to the purity ball: An open letter on feminism and girl culture, written to my female undergraduate students

Abstract

The author responds to the observed complacency and post-feminist rhetoric embraced by some of her female undergraduate students, exhorting them to reexamine girl culture, pop culture, feminism and the anti-intellectualism that pervades contemporary U.S. culture. An analysis of the princess trope in girl culture is followed by commentary on the place of education in a struggling economy. The letter concludes with a challenge to young women to become involved agitators instead of tiara-clad spectators in their own political lives.