Anti-princess heroines from my youth

by phdinparenting on March 10, 2010

After posting about Disney princesses yesterday, I was chatting with Rebecca from A Little Bit of Momsense and she pointed out that she was She-Ra for Halloween when she was little. I responded saying that I was once Wonder Woman. The conversation got me thinking about the female heroines of my youth and I realized that none of them are the Disney Princess types. Sure, I liked Snow White, but it was the story that intrigued me and not the Snow White character in particular (I loved the dwarfs!). I also played with typical girl toys like My Little Ponies and Strawberry Shortcake, but I would say that the majority of my childhood media influences were either strong heroines or were male. Not all of my  heroines are the perfect feminist ideal, but they are certainly not the typical princess type that is so popular today. Here is a sampling…

She-Ra – Princess of Power

Yes, she’s a princess, but certainly not your typical Disney Princess.

Wonder Woman

Nancy Drew

ShellyS on flickr

Pippi Longstocking

Caitlin Ryan on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High

Charlie’s Angels

Ramona Quimby

Elizabeth Wakefield from Sweet Valley

Peppermint Patty from Charlie Brown

The girls from the Facts of Life

I loved the girls from the Facts of Life, except the pretentious Blair of course.

Velma and Daphne from Scooby Doo

Lisa Simpson

Note: Most of these images and the corresponding links are from Amazon because I was having trouble finding good Creative Commons images of the heroines of my youth and Amazon provided a good alternative. Clicking on the links and purchasing the products from Amazon does provide me with a much appreciated yet small affiliate payment.

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All I think about is princesses…

by phdinparenting on March 9, 2010

My partner is a stay-at-home dad and he sometimes fills me in on the deep conversations he has during the day with our little girl. Ones like this:

Emma: Daddy, what are you thinking about?

Daddy: I’m thinking about putting the tiles on the backsplash. What are you thinking about?

Emma: I’m always thinking about princesses.

Such is the life of an almost three year old girl.

As a thirty-something feminist, I don’t expect to spend a lot of my time thinking about princesses. But these days, it does seem like I’m spending a lot of time thinking about them. From princess books, to princess movies, to princess birthday parties and princess pretend play, princesses are invading my home, my life and my thoughts. As if that wasn’t enough, when I try to escape into the world of adult conversation and news, I find princesses, princesses, and lots more princesses.

I don’t really like princesses. At least not the popular image of a princess. I don’t like how focused they are on their looks. I don’t like that their life’s goal is to meet and marry a rich and handsome prince. I don’t like their completely impractical clothing. I don’t like the fact that every single girl in Julian’s preschool class was a princess for Halloween. I don’t like the entitlement attitude. I don’t like the lavish lifestyle. I don’t like the snobbery. I don’t like the daintiness.

Since I’m not a huge princess fan, you would think I would welcome news from Disney that it is trying to make its next big animated movie less princess-focused. But I don’t. At least not the way they are doing it. According to the Los Angeles Times article “Disney restyles ‘Rapunzel’ to appeal to boys“:

After the less-than-fairy-tale results for its most recent animated release, “The Princess and the Frog,” executives at the Burbank studio believe they know why the acclaimed movie came up short at the box office.

Brace yourself: Boys didn’t want to see a movie with “princess” in the title.

This time, Disney is taking measures to ensure that doesn’t happen again. The studio renamed its next animated film with the girl-centric name “Rapunzel” to the less gender-specific “Tangled.”

But that isn’t all. In addition to changing the name of the movie, they also introduced a new male character, an infamous bandit Flynn Rider just to appeal to boys. A character that isn’t there in the original. The New York Review of Books A Girl in the Tower article on Rapunzel stories explains:

In the Grimms’ tale of “Rapunzel” (though not in the Pentamerone), the prince is a fairly ineffective figure. After he climbs Rapunzel’s hair into the tower and is confronted by the witch, he jumps from the window in despair and is blinded by thorns. Both he and his beloved then wander about alone in misery for several years, but at last they are reunited and when Rapunzel’s tears fall on his eyes his sight is restored.

The NPR’s blog on this topic, called “Dear Disney: Boys Aren’t Stupid, But Renaming ‘Rapunzel’ Is” explains that other Disney princess movies like the Little Mermaid did fine at box offices [emphasis mine]:

There are princess characters who do just fine with boys, but I think the word “princess” now carries an implication of passivity and romantic fixation and therefore a lack of interest that Disney has created, not discovered.

The blog post goes on to explain that Alice in Wonderland is expected to do well despite not being called Hatter! and that Up would probably not have failed if Russell had been a girl instead of a boy.

I recognize that Disney’s primary goal is profit and not ensuring an appropriate cultural education for my children, but I wish that instead of keeping the princess and adding a “cool guy” on top, that Disney would think about what role it can play in deconstructing gender stereotypes and showing girls that they don’t have to be princesses and boys that they don’t have to be charming machos. As a feminist, I don’t object outright to girls wanting to pretend that they are princesses, but I do object to them being consistently brainwashed with the princess mentality. As a pacifist, I don’t object outright to kids playing with swords and guns, but I do object to them being consistently brainwashed into thinking that violence and war is a way to solve problems. We need some balance. Balance that allows all kids to experiment, use their imagination, and have fun without being told “girls don’t do this” and “boys don’t do that“.

My challenge to Disney: Instead of thinking about how to appeal to girls and appeal to boys, think about how you can create strong characters that help to break down the gender stereotypes you’ve invested so much money into building.

Image credit: Express Monorail on flickr

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What should we say instead?

by phdinparenting on March 6, 2010

Language is a powerful thing. I sometimes object to other people’s choice of words. They sometimes object to mine. We let words impact us and give them power they may or may not have earned. There are words that cut like a knife and words so powerful and so objectionable that they really shouldn’t be used. Yet they are thrown around lightly. Nazi is one. Retard is another.

March 3rd was National Anti R-Word Day. My friend Ellen, who previously wrote a guest post here called How you should treat my child with special needs, wrote about it in her post One of the most awful words on the planet. The discussion in the comments was interesting and one commenter asked how replacing the word “retarded” with another one was going to do anything. Ellen replied that no one is suggesting the r-word be replaced with anything else.  She is right, but at the same time the word retarded has become such a huge part of so many people’s vocabulary, that I think they do need something to replace it.

So, I wrote an epic comment outlining exactly what I thought the r-word should be replaced with. Ellen turned it into a guest post on her blog. I hope you’ll take a moment to read it:

On alternatives to the r-word

I hope you’ll read it and comment over on Ellen’s blog if you have something to add to the conversation.

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I far too often hear “but I don’t want my children to see THAT” in people’s objections to nursing in public.  I think we need our children to see more of THAT.

Instant Classic by G.J. Charlet III on flickr

Moeder en kroost by inferis on flickr

Be a mentor!

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A day in the life of marginalizing “fringe groups” in Canada

March 2, 2010

Most days, I’m proud to be Canadian. Whether I’m talking about our health care system, our maternity and parental leave programs, feminist leaders, or other topics close to my heart, my country usually makes me proud (even if it isn’t perfect). Today, however, my heart sunk. I was hit with bad news and then slapped [...]

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A different kind of baby-led weaning

March 1, 2010

When people talk about baby-led weaning, they are usually referring to the method of introducing solid food that involves introducing finger foods and allowing the baby to decide what and how much to eat, rather than the parents spoon feeding baby food. Over time, feedings at the breast are gradually replaced with self-feeding of the [...]

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Are we using our brains when it comes to epidurals?

February 26, 2010

A 2009 study called Social disparity and the use of intrapartum epidural analgesia in a publicly funded health care system by Ning Liu MB, MSc et al concluded that in Canada “the use of labor epidural analgesia is decreased with decreasing neighborhood economic and education levels.” Or, in plain language: rich highly educated women are [...]

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Healthier Olympic Sponsorship Videos

February 24, 2010

A few days ago, I wrote about how I despise the McDonald’s and Coke sponsorship of Olympic athletes. Today, I want to share a few better Olympic sponsorship videos with you.
American Ski Champ and Organic Farmer: Bode Miller

Hockey Players and Egg Farmers of Canada: Hayley Wickenheiser and Kim St.Pierre

Thanks to Lisa from from Borden [...]

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How to report unethical promotion of formula, bottles and other breastmilk substitutes

February 22, 2010

The continued marketing of formula, bottles, pacifiers, or complimentary foods for babies under six months of age is dangerous and unethical. Not only do they undermine the efforts of moms who want to breastfeed, but they also create risks to the health of mothers and babies, and have a detrimental impact on the environment.
According to [...]

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Are these your kids’ heroes? Olympians, sponsorship, McDonald’s and more

February 20, 2010

Earlier this week, Canada welcomed a new hero into its hearts. Not only the winner of our first gold medal during these Olympics, but the winner of the first Olympic gold ever won by a Canadian on Canadian soil, and a genuine good human being too.  Alexandre Bilodeau is just the type of person I [...]

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