Rosa Brooks: The Misogynist Marketing Of Disney Princesses
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Posted by Lucinda Marshall April 2nd, 2008 |
Rosa Brooks recent column about the toxicity of Disney princesses is totally righteous. She writes,
“Start with some light feminist analysis. It will not have escaped you, Mothers of America, that Disney princesses — Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and the rest — rarely slay dragons, play sports, pilot jets or do open-heart surgery. Instead, they fiddle with their coiffures, linger over invitations to the ball, flee ineffectually from evil crones and swoon.
You don’t have to be Gloria Steinem to realize that these are not, for the most part, useful professional skills in today’s world.”
But it was her reminder of just what Disney thinks of mothers that nailed the true depth of the misogyny that is implicit with their profit margin:
“Ah, yes. What happens to you?
You didn’t think Disney was going to stand idly by while you engaged in those little feminist critiques, did you now? Pause for a moment to consider the fate of the princesses’ mommies in those Disney movies. “Cinderella” and “Snow White”? Mothers killed off by mysterious illnesses. “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin”? Mothers all missing; presumed dead.
Disney really has it in for mommies: Even when you leave princess-land, it’s the same pattern. Bambi’s mom? Shot dead by a hunter. Nemo’s mom? Eaten by a barracuda. Of all the major princesses, only Sleeping Beauty (a.k.a. Aurora; like all criminals, she often goes by an alias) has a nuclear family, not that it does her any good. But given Disney’s track record, I wouldn’t want to underwrite her mother’s life insurance policy.”
It does bear noting that their marketing to boys is just as insidious. The conversations I had in my head every time I had to decide whether to give in to my young sons when they begged for the paraphernalia that went along with the latest cartoon (and Disney isn’t the only company that is at fault here) mutant boy character were, trust me, enough to fill a book. I think it was the debate over the Power Ranger shoes that made me realize that there was a whole lot more to parenting than poopy diapers and that raising boys, no less than girls, was going to be a worthy feminist challenge.
Cross-posted from the Feminist Peace Network blog.
April 2nd, 2008 08:31
Thank you so much for articulating the fear and loathing I have for those bunch of hookers. My daughter is 5 now, and despite my strict ban on anything about the disney princesses, she can’t escape the peer influence of these products. they’re everywhere! She wants them just because her friends have them. Otherwise she wouldn’t even see them around. She watches PBS cartoons and isn’t allowed to watch any commercials at all, and if she receives anything as a gift, I strategically remove it from her possession and she forgets about it. But again, no matter what we want for our daughters, unless you live in a cave, we can’t escape the reach of this propaganda. I’ve tried all kinds of reasoning with her to get her to see what princesses really are. I tell her, “First of all, we don’t have princesses anymore, so you can’t be one when you grow up. (I’m lying a little, we still have them but they’re just called trophy wives) Princesses aren’t happy, they don’t get to do anything they want to do, they have to marry some old man that they don’t even know, let alone love, and even if she falls in love with someone, no one cares about her wishes so they will force her into anything they want. Yeah she gets to live in a castle or a palace, but that’s the only place she gets to be. She can’t go anywhere, just imagine if I didn’t let you go outside and play and you couldn’t go to school or play with your friends. Now, the movies you see about them show her being rescued by the guy she loves, but this doesn’t happen at all. There is no true love that will save you and you will be forced to submit to an empty life.” So, I thought this would work, but no dice. She still thinks they’re cool, because of the pretty dresses.
I don’t think it’s enough for us to try to exclude these kinds of things form our own kids, we have to fight this company and force them to change this dangerous message for all our kids. There is no reason why we should accept this fate for our daughters (and sons) and we should be uniting to protest this attack on our children.
The Disney princesses are more than just a shallow aspiration, they are criminals. They commit crimes against our kids: Pedophilia, sexual harassment, corruption of minors, they are against our civil rights and human rights.
Look at any picture of them and parallel it with pornography. It’s the same thing, they look like whores. They have no business being an influence in our kids lives and we need to let Disney know they are unacceptable role models. At least they could cover their cleavage! Jasmine and Ariel are just an excuse to indoctrinate objectification into our kids head. They’re porn for kids. Why would a protected woman living in the middle east wear that? She wouldn’t, that’s what harem girls wear, not royal princesses. And Ariel belongs in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue (which is just porn in disguise), not on my daughter’s shirt. This is sexual harassment, and it’s nothing but degrading objectification. Not to mention the inhuman waistline. (I guess princesses don’t have internal organs) And now our daughters don’t even have to wait till they’re adults to dress like whores, the way they make little girls clothes now. And then we wonder why child rape is up.
I know it’s hard to say no to kids, and they’ll hate you for refusing them what they want, but please please don’t support this company and don’t allow your kids to have their products. Give them better alternatives, like Dora and Diego, or dragon tales and barney. these shows and characters at least have some dignity and promote positive, useful messages to kids. Let your daughters play dress up and all that girly stuff, but also encourage her to play with balls and dinosaurs and give her a balance. Same with boys, give them baby dolls too, and let them play with things that might be considered “girl toys”, as well as all the “boy stuff”. We want our kids to be well rounded and feel good about their unique personalities and interests. Not whores in training, and future bullies.
no one else is going to fix this for us, it’s up to us as a community to say this is not acceptable.
April 4th, 2008 04:49
great post!
No matter: boy culture/girl culture all gets at these awful stereotypes.
Thanks for posting this.
April 4th, 2008 08:17
i agree completely! when they started marketing the princesses years ago i was for a split second pleased that girls in Disney films were getting some attention (instead of the barrage of male characters in the Pixar films)…and then i actually saw the images and was horrified.
April 25th, 2008 12:26
We at Princess Bubble have a princess alternative. We believe true “happily ever after’ is not about a prince; but found helping others and liking who you are already.
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