Disney Princesses: Response to Terra!

(See Terra's article)

Here is 'Sleeping Beauty.' Observe her figure. Isn't it wonderful? Her waist is so tiny, her breasts so voluptuous, her hand so dainty. And the hair! A golden cascade of thick, smooth locks that every girl would kill for.

'Sleeping Beauty' also happens to be a cartoon character. No human being looks like that, so why does every little girl desire to be a princess? Maybe it's the fact that after sixteen years in a lowly cottage in the woods, Aurora returns to her royal roots, and doesn't every girl wish she could discover her royal ancestry unexpectedly? Or maybe it's because Aurora has an amazing team of hands-on (female) fairies as slaves.

Sleeping Beauty -- and the title says it all, a passive girl who is defined by nothing other than her looks -- is potentially harmful to girls who believe that appearances are more important than intellect, status is more important than decency, and Prince Charming is more important than discovering one's own destiny.

Having said this, Aurora and all her fellow princess-colleagues never had a harmful effect on me as a child. I visited Disney Land Paris at the age of seven -- not that I would ever return to that place! -- and had a fantastic time in the hot French summer of 1999 waving at the princesses on parade and purchasing a bright yellow, and horribly tacky, ball gown based upon the cartoon equivalent in Beauty and the Beast. I used to adore the films and the excellent artwork, and yet none of the Disney characters are inspirations or role-models in my life.

Indeed, there came a time when I was, suddenly, fed up of pink and glitter and pin-up cartoon characters. I've never been into any of the plastic pop-stars during my teenage years and I've never been particularly worried about being carried off to paradise by a rich Prince Charming; actually, the thought of royalty and Disney-like 'hunks' makes me feel slightly sick.

I recognise, however, that Disney princesses do shape the lives of girls who go on to think that they are not worthy, and that they need to be saved by a man. I agree with Terra's point about how times are a'changing over at Disney (Mulan is, incidentally, my favourite Disney film apart from 101 Dalmatians!) and I hope that eventually wider society will change. Obviously, it is no help that there stories such as my old favourite, Twilight, to present girls with the potentially-harmful fantasy of True Love.

Thank you to Terra for another wonderful article! Oh, and I love Target Women and Sarah too.

xxx