Beyond Princess Culture

KATHERINE A. FOSS is an associate professor of media studies at Middle Tennessee State University and is the author of several books.

Beyond Princess Culture: Gender and Children's Marketing explores the impact of a post-princess space, examining potential agency and empowerment in the products' users while acknowledging that at least some alternatives continue to perpetuate components of the rigidly gender-coded princess culture. This book collectively critiques the commodification of the post-princess child consumer through analysis of historical and contemporary toys, video games, clothing, websites, and other popular culture phenomena. Guided by theories from feminist and gender studies, Beyond Princess Culture demonstrates how the marketing of children's products has and continues to perpetuate and challenge hegemonic notions of gender, race, ethnicity, ability, and other positions of intersectionality, as situated in the social, economic, and historical contexts.

This anthology collectively critiques the commodification of the post-princess child consumer through analysis of historical and contemporary toys, video games, clothing, websites, and other popular culture phenomena.

Preface - Section 1. Constructing Gender in Childhood - Katherine A. Foss: Pink or Blue?: The Gendering of Children's Marketing - Kate Roberts Edenborg: Caddie Woodlawn Grows Up: Constructions of Girlhood in the 1930s - Mimi Wiggins Perreault/Gregory Perreault/Michael McCarty: Marketing Gaming for Girls: The Framing of Princess Zelda in American and Japanese Nintendo Commercials - Natalia Rybas/Sergey Rybas: Where The Inner Star Leads: Neoliberal Sensibilities in American Girl Dolls' Talents - Section 2. Updating Classic Toys - Christine Eschenfelder: Guys and Dolls: Gender-Inclusive Toy Marketing in Baby Alive, the Easy-Bake Oven, and G. I. Joe - Jennifer M. Fogel: The Force Is Now Female: The Gendered Marketing of Star Wars - Katherine A. Foss: Building the Future or Making Friends?: Constructing Gender in LEGO Narratives - Erika M. Thomas: Empowerment Through Disney? Third Wave Feminist Discourse in the "Dream Big, Princess" Campaign - Madeleine Esch: Imagine the Possibilities: Marketing Girls' Leadership Through the President Barbie Doll - Section 3. Redefining Gendered Spaces - Nathan Gilkerson: The Internet Asks: Why Are There No Science Shirts for Girls? Examining a Retailer's Marketing Misstep and Public Relations Success - Rebecca Swenson: Kids in the Kitchen: An Analysis of Gendered Narratives on the Food Network - Torie Fowler: What Are Our Children Listening To? Gender Stereotyping and Adult Themes in Kidz Bop - Spring-Serenity Duvall: DIY Superheroines: Craftivism, Capitalism, and Counter-Hegemonic Girl Culture - Katherine A. Foss: Beyond Princess Culture: Navigating New Spaces - Index.