Cinderella 'bout to lose the glass off her foot

Jennifer Hartstein's new book, "Princess Recovery" has been described as an "excellent how-to guide to empowering girls and freeing them from the oppressive messages being sent by a society obsessed with appearances and determined to sexualize girls at every turn."

Word.

In "Princess Recovery," Hartstein outlines the messages being sent to girls (and boys) by our princess culture, including:

• That girls and boys are fundamentally different
  
• That girls should be pretty
  
• That more stuff makes you a better person
  
• That girls will get rescued and don't have to take care of themselves
  
• That being hot is very, very important

Annenberg School did a recent media study that revealed even though the movement for women's equality has been succesful, representations of women in the media have remained as narrowly defined as they were in 1946 - women are marginalized and depicted first and foremost as sexual objects.

There are very few viable alternative role models for girls growing up in a $4 billion dollar a year, princess product world (and that's just Disney).

Canadian photographer Dina Goldstein (insprired by her three-year old daughter's fixation on princesses) created her series Fallen Princesses. Goldstein's images are photographic narratives that subvert of the myth of happiness and force viewers to reconsider the "ever after."