Princesses Behaving Badly

Once Upon a Time: An Introduction
Every girl pretends she is a princess at one point.  
Lindy, from Alex Finn s Beastly

Every little girl? Not quite.
     When I was growing up, I didn t want to be a princess. I wasn t a tomboy or anything; I just wasn t into them. Horses, yes, especially the unicorn or winged or, best of all, winged unicorn kind. But then again, when I was a little girl, the Disney princess wasn t the glittery pastel-colored
juggernaut it is today. You could be a little girl and not limit your dress-up choices to Belle, Ariel, or Cinderella (or Mulan or Merida, if you re feeling feisty).
     Nowadays, princess obsession is the default setting for many little girls. In 2000 Disney decided to market the doe-eyed denizens of its feature films by their primary identifying characteristic: their princess titles. And thus was born the princess plague. Princesses are now the biggest industry for the pre-tween set. In 2012 the Disney Princess media franchise was the best-selling of its kind in North America, outselling Star Wars and Sesame Street and earning more than $4.6 billion worldwide. Add to that all the collateral stuff The Princess and the Popstar Barbies, the Melissa & Doug Decorate Your Own Princess Mirror sets, countless pink-spangled princess T-shirts and you ve got what social commentators and worried parents are calling the Princess Industrial Complex.
     In her fascinating book Cinderella Ate My Daughter (Harper, 2011), Peggy Orenstein examines the obsession with bundling girls into pink and pretty princess costumes. Orenstein, among many others, worries that princess play presents unrealistic expectations of feminine beauty, is overly restrictive (pink ball gown, or purple?), and is turning little girls into budding narcissists. So do I. Though no direct

Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

Forget conventional fairy-tale endings From pirate princesses to princesses with bizarre beauty routines to warrior royalty, this book shows there's a lot more to life than a cookie-cutter story. Bustle

An important and impressive contribution to the feminist narrative. Bust magazine

Princess, diva, pain in the ass all terms that resonate throughout Princesses Behaving Badly, which tells of royal terrors who make modern gossip queens seem as demure as Snow White. New York Post

History has produced some very real, very dangerous ladies who make their movie and book counterparts seem lame by comparison. From Nazi spy to bloodthirsty killer, these women were not meek in any way. Heck, one of them even wore a mask of raw veal! You ll find out all this and more in this little book of miniature biographies. Geeks of Doom
 
McRobbie includes a good mix that will satisfy anyone who loves tales of history and audacity. Terri Schlichenmeyer, The Bookworm Sez

McRobbie gives many of these princesses exactly what their stories require: a narrative that tells their stories in broad strokes, without omitting any of the juicy details. ForeWord Reviews

Irreverent, informative, and entertaining, Princesses Behaving Badly is the perfect companion to royal novels. Jennifer Conner, Literate Housewife

[Princesses Behaving Badly] is a major addition to feminist libraries, and more importantly, it s lots of fun! Anna Jedrziewski, Retailing Insight