Anti-DisneyPrincess book out

[stuffedauberginexmasdinner]

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2077635/Princess-Syndrome-Disney-heroines-teach-trade-looks-value-material-things.html

Sorry for the dm link but the comments on this article are so naive- this is what most people I know IRL think, but how do I change their minds?

I really don't want DD exposed to Disney princess twaddle but I keep getting accused of 'ruining' the fun, that girls liking dp is inevitable and that it does no harm. Tbh I'd rather have people smoking around her than peddling this shit.

Do people really need a book to teach them how to bring up their DDs not to want to be a princess?

I do think people are just jumping on the anti pink type bandwagon.

Many children, and yes probably mostly girls, go through pink princess phases. And most then grow out of it too and grow up to be normal well adjuested grown women.

But then imo I don't think it does children any harm to watch Disney princesses and play with Barbie dolls.

"Tbh I'd rather have people smoking around her than peddling this shit."

Disagree - the former can be very dangerous to my child's health and can cause long term health issues if prolonged too. The latter isn't and a phase she'll went through and grew out of again.

Yy it's a pet hate of mine. It always seems to me that the patriarchy wants to undo the progress of the last years by making sure that negative messages are embedded from an early age.

"what's the harm?"

Hundreds more years of inequality, domestic abuse and low wages? Not from dp alone but the whole negative package that it's part of and that is peddled as aspirational for girls

I think disney princess exposure is far less of a problem than the huge number of appalling real-life style icons and brat pack types that are around.
TV, news and reality shows. that sort of brainfry.

The choices seem to have reverted to those of my youth; either bimbo or brainiac, but not girly pink fluff and intelligent and independent in the same package.
Both should be possible.

I'm all for the wellies, princess dress and sword combo, or the shield and wand ensemble. Your children are far more influenced by the parenting you give them, and there are hundreds of stories out there with proactive female models, many of them predate disney.

Have nothing to add to the OP but was amused to log on this morning and be confronted by a banner ad for a Disney princess nightlight that promised "princess dreams".

Seeing that flashing away next to the thread list for Feminism really appealed to my twisted sense of humour

Dustin- really? In the mainstream? Can you name some? Because I think there's a severe lack of good female role models in children's stories.

DP DOES do long term harm. At age 2-5 is when children learn about gender identity ( as in that is when they realise that boys grow up to be men, girls grow up to be women, what gender they are and how to tell the gender of other people and toys from their appearance). These ideas, once set, stick and take a lot of unlearning to fix.

Girls who grow up expecting a prince to save them and provide for them do 'girly' subjects at school and college/uni then end up in dead end low paid jobs and become financially dependent on men who are then in a potentially abusive position of power that is difficult to escape. Then to top it off it is the women who are blamed for all this!

Sgm, I finally got round to reading CAMD based on your recommendation and it was excellent. The most lightbulb moment for me was when the CEO of Disney saw the hundreds of dresses that the little girls had made with their own hands and imaginations and saw a business opportunity. That to me is what is sick making about the whole DP culture, not girls wanting to be princesses, but the commodification of girlhood and the intense materialism of it all.

Having said that the princess culture does lead into the wider looks culture as a whole and that is very damaging. When I think of all the time I wasted as a teenager worrying about my looks that I could have spent actually learning something ....

Stuffed. Yes. I think DP culture is a definite factor in the pay gap.

My dd is 4 and going through a massive princess stage, despite my best efforts to divert her attention. The only thing she's asked for from Santa is a tinkerbell doll, even though she's never seen the film and has no idea who she actually is. I am aiming to counterbalance with as much positive images of princessdom as I can, but it's not easy I am depressed to discover. Got a great book, the paper bag princess (about a princess who rescues a fop of a prince by outwitting a dragon), but am struggling to find more - any recommendations?!

Just noticed other thread with recommendations