World News 26-11-2003 who: Cinderella what: Sends girls harmful messages about beauty, say researchers where: Purdue University, Indiana, USA when: Yesterday snippet: Sociology professor Liz Grauerholz congratulates the makers of the film Shrek, "in which a beautiful maiden lives happily ever after when she is transformed into an ogre," says The Telegraph, but "it pays to be pretty" is the impression conveyed by most fairy tales such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. "From early childhood, girls are reading fairy tales about princesses who achieve vast riches simply because their beauty makes them special," argues prof. Grauerholz. "That is a powerful message which can inhibit young women who feel they do not meet society`s expectations of what it means to be attractive." [... more]

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