Prince-Less “Happily Ever After”?
As Girls Grapple with Self-Esteem Issues, Princess Bubble
Unties the Knot in Modern-Day Fairy Tale
YOUNG GIRLS ARE HEADING DOWN A TUMULTUOUS PATH
Three most common mental disorders in girls: low self-esteem, depression, and eating disorders
From 2002 to 2003, the number of girls with breast implants (under age 18) tripled from 3,872 to 11,326
Girls ages 12 to 19 spent over $8 million on cosmetics in 2005
In undergraduate women, MTV was the most powerful predictor of notions of sexuality and love relationships
(Source: Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, 2007)
Atlanta, April 2, 2007—Two never-been-married, seasoned career women, Susan Johnston and Kimberly Webb, are offering hope to girls struggling with self-esteem issues and encouragement to women living the single life. With wisdom gleaned from careers as independent, globe-trotting flight attendants, Johnston and Webb have crafted a modern-day fairy tale that celebrates singleness. With 51% of American women currently living the single life, Princess Bubble has struck a powerful and sometimes controversial chord. After only a few months in publication, more than 5,000 copies of Princess Bubble have been sold!
This modern-day fairy tale stars a princess with a career—she is a flight attendant—who is confused by the traditional fairy tale messages that say she must find her “prince” before she can live “happily ever after.” Princess Bubble dons her “thinking crown” to research traditional fairy tales, interviews married girlfriends, and even takes counsel from her mother, who advises her to sign up at www.FindYourPrince.com.
Princess Bubble’s search for her very own definition of “happily ever after” leads her—with a little help from her fairy godmother (this is still a fairy tale after all)—to discover that “living happily ever after” is not about finding a prince. “True happiness,” the book reveals, “is found by loving God, being kind to others, and being comfortable with who you are already! Happy princesses are people who enjoy others and like themselves. Happy people give of their time to help others!”
ABOUT PRINCESS BUBBLE and BUBBLE GUM PRESS: Self-published in March 2006, Princess Bubble is now available in over 70 stores and through many online retailers. The Princess Bubble crusade, led by former Delta Airlines flight attendants Susan Johnston and Kimberly Webb, seeks to find an alternate ending to “happily ever after” and change the notion that life begins and ends with finding your Prince Charming. Looking to bolster the poor self-esteem of female youth and the stigma that many single adult women carry, Johnston and Webb believe “this is a book for women of all ages, a story they can believe in and share with their children.”
