Princesses Revisted

One of my most wonderful and amazing friends, and the mother of two equally phenomenal little girls, sent me an article written by Monique Fields for The Root, entitled “The Trouble with Disney’s Princess Tiana.”  This is an article that not only targets Disney’s newest princess, which had already been critiqued by the New York Times, but also what the author describes as “Princess Mentality,” a pervasive problem in our society set up essentially to disappoint little girls. 

In B’s email she wrote:

Hailey also calls herself a princess, but do I really have to destroy all of her dreams by telling her she can’t be a princess or can I try to find all of the great morals the princess stories try to portray like kindness, bravery and love? Ah the struggle of raising girls! haha…love you! xoxo

I am more or less in the same vein on this issue, being a fan of telling little girls that they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up, even if what they want to be is pink and frilly and covered in sequins, and I found this article to be a little extreme..

What do you think?

Further Reading:

• The Frisky, Should Girls Aspire To Be Princesses
• Jezebel, How About An Animated Movie With A Female Lead Who Isn’t A Princess?
• Feministing, Animators, It’s Time for a Female Heroine–No Princesses Please!
• I’ll Follow The Sun, Disney Princesses & Dissapearing Waistlines

Tagged as: body image, feminism, girls, growing up, princesses, self esteem