New Book: In Defense of the Princess: How Plastic Tiaras and Fairytale Dreams Can Inspire Smart, Strong Women by Jerramy Fine

In Defense of the Princess: How Plastic Tiaras and Fairytale Dreams Can Inspire Smart, Strong Women by Jerramy Fine was released in March. This is another entry in the long standing argument about princesses and princess culture, especially as fostered by Disney, and thus fairy tales are pulled into the fray.

Book description:

It’s no secret that most girls, at some point, love all things princess: the poofy dresses, the plastic tiaras, the color pink. Even grown-up women can’t get enough of royal weddings and royal gossip. Yet critics claim the princess dream sets little girls up to be weak and submissive, and allows grown women to indulge in fantasies of rescue rather than hard work and self-reliance.

Enter Jerramy Fine – an unabashed feminist who is proud of her life-long princess obsession and more than happy to defend it. Through her amusing life story and in-depth research, Fine makes it clear that feminine doesn’t mean weak, pink doesn’t mean inferior, and girliness is not incompatible with ambition. From 9th century Cinderella to modern-day Frozen, from Princess Diana to Kate Middleton, from Wonder Woman to Princess Leia, Fine valiantly assures us that princesses have always been about power, not passivity. And those who love them can still be confident, intelligent women.

Provocative, insightful, but also witty and personal, In Defense of the Princess empowers girls, women, and parents to dream of happily ever after without any guilt or shame.

Here are two page shots to be read as an excerpt for your consideration, pages 33 & 34 of the book. You can click on these images to see them larger for reading or go to Amazon and look inside the book viewer to read them there.

I haven't read the entire book but skimmed with some keyword searches of the text. The argument that the literary tales often offer strong women to be used as role models is one I think we overall agree with here in the SurLaLune fandom. 

So here's book that uses studies/research and personal experiences to create an offering from a Princess culture apologist. Add it to your lists if this is one of your topics of interest!