One last word -- the title of the book; The Cinderella Complex, might easily be taken as symbolic of Dowling's personal projection onto the Cinderella myth rather than of the symptomatology of the women it purports to represent. In the story of Cinderella, Cinderella wants to go to the ball, so she takes a risk and, with the help of a wise, good woman, manages to get what she wants, overcoming the oppression of her misguided step-sisters and step-mother. She is not paralysed and waiting for the prince; when he comes around to the house she steps forward and allows him to recognize her. And for all we know, she may become a powerful queen in her own right. I recommend Dowling's version to you only on the condition that you read it with critical faculties intact. It is useful for what it does say about how we can and do misuse our own needs to be dependent; it is potentially oppressive in the ways in which it interprets those needs and in the lack of constructive alternatives it presents.

Ann Fales is an Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of Adult Education at O.I.S.E. She is very interested in women's growth and development and teaches in the areas of adult development and aging. As well Ann does counselling for individuals, couples and families.