Why does your little girl like to play “princess?”

Virginia Postrel at the very cool DeepGlamour.net wants you to find out.

Peggy Orenstein's 2006 NYT Magazine story is the most in-depth examination of the question (and the business) that I've found. It's a good read, but ultimately unsatisfying. Orenstein brings too many political preconceptions to the topic and, while she quotes her princess-loving daughter to good narrative effect, she offers almost no information about what girls who play princess themselves think it means to be a princess.

For my book research, I'd like to hear from the little princesses themselves. Ideally, I'd find some brilliant, scientifically rigorous research by a child psychologist. But I haven't so far. So, since preschoolers are not the easiest interview subjects, I'm enlisting adults who know little princesses (preferably those older and more articulate than Anna Margaret) to ask them for me–Why do you like to be a princess? What does it mean to be a princess?–and write down the answers. 

Because I think it's awesome that somebody actually wants to listen to children, rather than to grown-up pundits who assume they know what children think, I'm linking.  Go ask your little princess, tell Ms. Postrel, and pass it on.