The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls through the Princess-Obsessed Years Paperback – September 2, 2014

I could summarize the “Princess Problem” as the negative impact of the overall princess culture that is so pervasive today and that translates into stereotypes of gender, beauty, race and culture that ultimately shape what girls think of themselves and the world at large. The book explains the concepts and then provides valuable tools for parents to act as “pop culture coaches” to their children. As such, parents get actively involved in the entertainment choices their kids make and help them think outside the obvious, building a critical thinking about all things media and marketing related. The book quotes academic papers, conversations with parents and draws from the author’s own experiences as princess in kids parties. The combination is good. It’s not too academic, but it’s not just opinion either. It has a good balance.I liked the overall tone of the book. I was expecting a holier-than-thou, condescending attitude usually found on parenting reads, but the author quickly asks you to setup the foundation for your discussions with your child: your own family values, which she encourages you to discuss at length and even write down. You can then use the tools and ideas she provides to guide your children according to your family values. She doesn’t tell you what those values should be. I enjoyed highlighting some interesting observations and tools and then discussing them with my wife. I plan to come back to these comments in the future, as I work on becoming my kid’s pop culture coach.Note that all those tools require you to be very active, but I suppose that should not be an issue for parents picking up this book. You have to be there, with your child, watching the shows and providing your thoughts. Then you have to follow up and constantly discuss. So plan to spend some time on it. One good thing is that the discussions the author proposes are not joy kills. You won’t ruin your child’s entertainment time, but get her/him more engaged.At the end I got lost with the section about race and all the stereotypes the likes of Disney perpetuate. While I agree with the overall idea, I think the section was reading too much into the movies and princess stories. In one part it turns out that the fact that a black character has a job is racist, but that the other black character does not have a job is also racist. Which one is it then? I skimmed through this section and moved to the end.I really liked this book and will be coming back to it in the future.

I was disappointed: the author gives no scientific studies or persuasive evidence that exposure to Disney movies or princess culture is actually harmful or damaging to girls as they grow up, and she does nothing to address the nature VS nurture debate that is always going on among academics, leaving me still scratching my head wondering if there really is a problem in the first place. Most of the problematic material she cites is very much up to interpretation-- for example, she insists that the passiveness of the old Disney princesses is a bad thing. What, people who are passive are unacceptable or unworthy of admiration? She also states that some of the traits of newer Disney princesses are superior to the old Disney princesses, even when they are clearly controversial-- such as when she suggests that Rapunzel wielding a frying pan as a weapon and smacking people over the head with it in a manner that could cause a concussion or death in real life is a GOOD thing, because Rapunzel is somehow empowered by behaving violently. Overall her message falls flat and I didn't get much out of the book.

The Princess Problem is an excellent book from beginning to end. It is well researched, well written and easy to follow. It reads like a well-crafted novel but with concrete analysis and first hand interviews of parents with children who have been impacted by our very invasive princess culture. This is not a book just for parents or grandparents of little girls. The media coaching techniques are invaluable to all parents, or care givers of children. The techniques are easy to follow and put into practice. Simply by using these tools it will help people to raise empowered young women instead of insecure, look-obsessed princesses. I cannot tell you how helpful Dr. Hains' book has been with coaching my six year old. Without these tools I'm not sure I would have had the ability to navigate through the princess obsessed years. The marketing is so strong that an ordinary person feels helpless to guide their child against it. I was looking for an answer and I found it in Dr. Hains' book. High praise for bringing this issue to the forefront and placing much needed and easy to follow coaching tools into my hands.

I absolutely loved this book. Not only is it filled with practical advice for parents who are navigating the princess-obsessed years, but it is solidly grounded in research. Dr. Hains, a professor of media studies, is well equipped to lay out the issues in a way that parents can easily understand, while at the same time providing professional analysis that goes beyond what is typically found in the blogosphere. This book has depth and gravitas while being, at the same time, extremely accessible and entertaining. Princess culture is analyzed and explained but not bashed. For parents who are searching for positive ways to guide young daughters through our sexualized and stereotyped Princess World, this book is an invaluable resource. Even if you don’t have a little girl, the book is a fascinating exploration of corporate America, exploitative marketing and consumerism, especially of the ways these things negatively affect the female gender and target girls. Highly recommended!

As the mother of a three year old girl, I found this book extremely valuable. It is full of practical, common sense advice for developing media literacy with your children. I especially liked that, although the book primarily addresses the Princess Culture being marketed to young girls, the principles and practices that are described can easily be used for all children to combat the many marketing ploys targeted to them. I read this book with a highlighter in hand because there was so much valuable information on each page that I didn't want to forget. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in establishing media guidelines in their household, whether they have girls or boys.

Incredibly insightful, well written and even gives practical solutions. I feel empowered.