Article: Beauty's more than skin-deep in fairy tales

NEW YORK -- Fairy tales offer children a fantasy world of magic, romance and adventure, where pumpkins are transformed into crystal coaches and a kiss from a handsome prince can bring a young girl back to life.

But tales like "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White" are also sending strong messages about the importance of having a beautiful appearance, according to a new study by Purdue University sociologist Liz Grauerholz and Lori Baker-Sperry, an assistant professor of women's studies at Western Illinois University.

Grauerholz and Baker-Sperry examined 168 Brothers Grimm fairy tales to study how fairy tales deal with beauty in "The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine ...

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