As a mother of a daughter, I’ve long had ambivalent feelings about princesses, especially how Disney princesses are marketed to our children. Most little girls go through a phase where they latch on to one of the Disney gals — Ariel was a particular favorite for PunditGirl, even though I couldn’t bear the thought of a character being willing to totally abandon her family for some guy she’d just laid eyes on. Clearly we had a lot of talks about that one.
Princesses are getting a lot of attention this week with the release of Peggy Orenstein’s new book “Cinderella Ate My Daughter,” a memoir that’s apparently about the culture of raising “girly-girls.” I haven’t read it yet because I need a little break from “momoirs” for a while because my head is still spinning over this whole Tiger Mother thing. But if we’re going to fight the Disney marketing machine and how the culture of frills and flounces impacts our daughters, then we ought to focus on other princesses like “The Paper Bag Princess,” “Princess Smartypants,” and “The Princess Knight,” just to name a few. And let’s not forget my favorite non-princess princess Mulan — she’s not really a princess, she’s smarter than the boys and she saves China. That’s some serious girl empowerment.
But there’s one other non-girly princess in particular that I am hoping you’ll all join me in focusing on –
This is the warrior Lego princess that sits on the desk of my friend Susan who is battling breast cancer for the fourth time in as many years. But she’s not a girl who soley focuses on herself. Aside from her family and her work, she’s also an advocate for other breast cancer patients. Because of her generosity and selflessness, her friends in the blogosphere are trying to help her in her efforts to raise money to provide lymphedema sleeves to patients who can’t afford them (t hey are often not covered by insurance or Medicare). Kristin stepped up, and then so did Amie and then Jessica and Leticia and Marty and others. Plus Amie created this rockin’ button with the princess warrior — head over to her place and grab one for yourself.
So how can I not support Susan in this? You see, aside from Susan, I have another reason to support her efforts to raise money for others who battling breast cancer. My best and closest friend in the world lost her battle with breast cancer four years ago. I know she’d also want me to step up. If she was still here, I know she would, too.
So, if you leave a comment to this post, I will donate $1 for every comment up to 500 left by Friday, January 28 to Crickett’s Answer who is partnering with LympheDivas to provide women with free lymphedema sleeves, something that helps ease the pain of undergoing chemo treatment. And,of course, you can always donate directly if you’d like to do that.
As Amie said at her place, I can’t make Susan’s cancer go away. If I had one of those Harry Potter wands or Lucy’s flask from the Chronicles of Narnia, I would. But I can show Susan that I stand with her in her fight and in her effort to help others. It’s not a lot, but it’s a start.
I hope you’ll join me in kicking cancer’s ass, once princess at a time.
January 24th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Thank you for letting me know about this cause! I’m always up for a good fight!!
January 24th, 2011 at 11:29 am
God Bless Susan, and you… and let’s beat this !!!!!!
xo
January 24th, 2011 at 11:32 am
We’re here for you Susan!
January 24th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Pundit Mom, Susan, how could I not? Thank you for all you are doing. This disease has struck my circle too, and bitterly. Lego Warrior Princesses unite!
January 24th, 2011 at 11:39 am
One of my best friends overcame an aggressive breast cancer (oh my – going on two years now). It’s shocking just how many people we know who have battled the disease. This is a fight we are all in together.
January 24th, 2011 at 11:41 am
This is one princess I can get behind. My best wishes and thoughts go out to Susan, and the badge is proudly on my blog.
January 24th, 2011 at 11:46 am
Yeah!!!!!
January 24th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Thank you my friend for getting the word out.
Let me know the badge is on your blog in my comments and $1 goes to Crickett’s Answer as well.
January 24th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
I sent Susan’s latest post to my circle of women on Saturday — four of whom are facing similar battles. I want to punch something, but instead, I’ll leave a comment here, put the button on my site and keep praying to kick the smack out of this bastard of a disease — warrior princesses forever.
January 24th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Awesome. Susan has some wonderful friends, doesn’t she.
January 24th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
*princess fist bump*
January 24th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Commenting! Thanks for doing this
January 24th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Thank you, PunditMom. Wow.
January 24th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Praying for Susan and sending some Princess Power her way!
January 24th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
Power to the princess!
January 24th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
I hope you get 500+ responses for Susan
January 24th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Such a good cause! Thank you for doing this.
January 24th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
Thank you, Joanne. This is wonderful <3
January 24th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Warrior princesses united. Gotta love it.
January 24th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Wonderful thing you are doing. Go Warrior Princesses!
January 24th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Paper Bag Princess Knight reporting in.
January 24th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I have lost count of how many women I know who have battled breast cancer – friends and family. Thank you for this great idea, Joanne.
January 24th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Only good wishes.
January 24th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
All for powerful princesses!!
January 24th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
As a survivor myself, no one is more inspiring to me than Susan, and it’s also inspiring to see how many people are moved to action. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful idea and message.
January 24th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
What a great friend, and what an amazing woman Susan is.
January 24th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Joanne, first I have to say how awesome it is that you are doing this. Ironically, I actually had something to comment about BEFORE I got to the bottom half of the post though! The point you made about how you had a lot of conversations with PunditGirl about Ariel and all that story entails is, to me, part of the point. Sure, the Disney Princesses all have some Issues and there are a LOT of things that can be talked about there. It is something that no one ever really did with me, in part I suspect because my own mother was still (and perhaps still is) hoping for Happily Ever After.
Growing up, I saw the destruction that hoping for some miracle can cause and have become much more pragmatic in a lot of ways. It has also meant that I have weighed what I let my daughter have access to, but instead of saying, “That’s nonsense,” as I’ve seen some moms do, I’ve used it as a platform for conversation with my daughter. I have a B.A. in English: generating discourse is something I do for fun, and finding those connections with my daughter makes it even more fun. I love the fact that you do the same thing with PunditGirl.
I guess for me, a lot of the recent arguments about “that’s a girl’s thing” and “that’s a boy’s thing” that I’ve seen in the media is something that I’ve been waging war against since my daughter was born. For me, there was room for a plethora of different toys simply because I enjoyed both my “girl” toys and my brother’s “boy” toys growing up. Playing Barbie with G.I. Joe and Legos was AWESOME fun. Making G.I. Joe do the dishes? Totally cool. I introduced her to dolls and to blocks, to kitchens and to tools. She is eight now and I frequently find myself having to inhale and remember that while I may be hip to the fact that in the real world, it is definitely more beneficial to know how to cook AND to make home repairs, most eight year olds aren’t so savvy. I’ve gotten to where I’ll ask her why she thinks something is “only for girls” or “only for boys” and nine times out of ten it is because “someone at school said so” to which I have fantastic arguments that usually have her remembering why she liked the thing to begin with.
I am definitely adding Orenstein’s new book to my reading list. I read the NYTimes book review about it yesterday and it definitely piqued my interest. Ultimately, I think a lot of these types of questions truly are going to come down to being “solved” by parents and kids talking and learning together. If society can make patterns in that fashion, they certainly can break them the same way.
As always, you leave me with a lot to think about! Thank you!
January 24th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
We disagree about nearly everything, but this is awesome. Almost all of the women in my family have faced either breast or ovarian cancer, so much so that I’m supposed to start getting mammograms and CA-125s next year when I turn 30.
Thanks for doing this. I don’t know Susan, but this means a lot to anyone who’s been affected by the disease.
January 24th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
You’re amazing Joanne! It’s wonderful that you’re doing this!
As for girly-girlness and princesses, your post brings me to an issue that has been on my mind a lot lately… the question and value of a mother’s identity and worth…specifically, who am I now that I am a mother? Princess obsessions may indeed be where mothers started to believe the grass is always greener somewhere else, and where mothers as girls began questioning self worth and their chosen or given roles.
January 24th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
I am just bouncing over from your facebook page cause you said if I left a comment, any comment, you’d give more money to charity, which is almost always a good thing.
January 24th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
This is awesome, Joanne! I’m so sorry about your friend. I am walking 39 miles in the Avon Walk this April in DC for Susan. Maybe you and Amie can join me for a few miles!
January 24th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
I too struggle with the whole princess thing.
And with wrapping my head around how someone as wonderful as Susan can be battling cancer for the fourth time.
Thanks for my reminder to do a post about the sleeves.
January 24th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Now those are some princesses I can be a fan of! I have major debates about this – in my head. I don’t have a daughter but think a lot about how I would deal with this. Perhaps I should focus on how to raise my son to not buy into the superhero model for men, and of course how real women kick butt.
January 25th, 2011 at 9:05 am
Like some of the other commenters have said, those are some princesses I can get behind! (Although I have always loved Cinderella…) Way to go!
January 25th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Here’s to Susan. She sounds like the kind of person we all should aspire to be like…
January 25th, 2011 at 11:12 am
That’s the best type of rockin’ princess.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Thanks for making me aware of this issue.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:45 am
My kindergartner is obsessed with princesses. I hope that in addition to wanting to grow out her hair like Rapunzel’s and dress like Cinderella, that she also chooses some kick ass princesses like you for role models.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:59 am
What a wonderful way of raising money. In this comment, I won’t go into my issues with the way insurance is set up. I’ll just say, anything that can help ease the pain of chemo is a great cause.
January 25th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
I am not a comment kind of gal, but I will surely leave one for the cause! Glad to know more help for princesses fighting cancer is on the way.
January 25th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Warrior princesses rock. Just like you and Susan.
January 25th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Save the boobies!!!
January 25th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
I will join you.
January 25th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Ahem, as someone who is usually called a warrior princess (only because I don’t like camping). I think “Today’s” princesses definitley aren’t the Disney types. More so the princesses of today like the Susan’s and all the wonderful people here commenting, who want to help you raise $ for this important cause. As a working Mom, I will never be a Tiger, though if you ask my daughter, I surely can act like one at times, especially when its the word “NO” after saying it for the umpteenth time! Cheers to all the modern day (warrior) princesses!
January 25th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Thinking of Susan every day.
January 26th, 2011 at 9:53 am
I can’t help but comment again (don’t count it for the donation!) The comments here are AWESOME. I can feel the strength and power – such strong wonderful women read PunditMom!
January 26th, 2011 at 10:36 am
Susan, I’m so glad you are feeling strength and connection from the comments. And of course I am counting your second comment!
January 26th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Rock on, warrior princesses!! Susan, may the force be with you!!
January 26th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Count me in as part of this army!
January 26th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Have found my way over from whymommy’s blog. What a great post and I am loving the warrior princess
Off to explore your other posts….