Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect

[snarksnarklaugh]

By Stephanie Hanes, / Correspondent

Comments

[porcelain72]

•A University of Central Florida poll found that 50 percent of 3-to-6-year-old girls worry that they are fat.

•One-quarter of 14-to-17-year-olds of both sexes polled by The Associated Press and MTV in 2009 reported either sending naked pictures of themselves or receiving naked pictures of someone else.

Ummm...admittedly I didn't read this entire article, but what do either of those statistics have to do with the influence of Disney Princesses? This article seems to be all over the place and putting a lot of weight into dubious statistics and scare quotes.

[xforge]

Considering most kids are wearing five to eight pounds of what's basically baby fat until they're around twenty or so, this attitude is pretty damned silly.

[seasontoseason]

huh?

[tiddlywinks103]

Given this backdrop, many child development experts say the best way to handle the media onslaught for younger girls is for parents to simply opt out.

The crux of the matter, imo. Also, tho, watching a Disney movie or being on Facebook won't sexualize and mentally fuck up your daughter. Failing to to sit her down and talk about the potential problems with these things and most media outlets will. Not talking openly about sexism, racism, homo/transphobia, etc, will just allow these tools of entertainment to be the only way she can decipher the world and her worth in it.

There are plenty of smart, intelligent places on the web for people to be, just there's equally disgusting ignorant and offensive places.

[porcelain72]

Yes, thank you, that's where this article rubs me the wrong way. This "the all-powerful media is the Satan that controls our children's minds and turns them into sex fiends" shit is so old. 12 year-old girls are going out and buying thongs? Where are they getting the money from? Who's taking them to the mall? If little girls are developing body image issues, it's probably more likely because they hear their own mothers complaining about their bodies, or worse, making comments about a fat person. My generation (Generation X) is so unwilling to take responsibility for anything, it's absurd and embarrassing. It's always someone else's fault.

[squeeful]

Heh. My mother is incapable of realizing that I never had a body image issue until she started trying to make me feel better about the way I look.

[firerosearien]

My mom once gave me a two hour lecture on why I should get a nose job.

And I was like, uh, fuck no.

[homasse]

Oh, thank goodness, it wasn't just me side-eying that.

[itcamefromjapan]

This times a million.

[firerosearien]

When my grandma wanted me to feel better about myself she took me to see Mulan. Still my favorite disney princess.

[schexyschteve]

"The marketing group NPD Fashionworld reported in 2003 that more than $1.6 million is spent annually on thong underwear for 7-to-12-year-olds."

And just WHO is buying that for these little girls? Same with the mascara that more little girls are now supposedly wearing.

Yeah, marketing/media plays a huge role, but at some point, parents have to parent. Yes, it's difficult, yes, it's time-consuming, but that's the job.

[homasse]

*grumble* I still wanna know why Mulan isn't a "Disney princess." And where is Tiana in that picture?

And yes, yes, I know, there was a lot of meat and heavy stuff in the article, but danggit, I'm still pissed they go and drag out Snow White from way the hell back when, but Mulan gets no love.

Also, to whoever drew Jasmine there, spines don't work that way.

[schexyschteve]

At least they included Jasmine this time. She's not usually in there either.

Tiana definitely needs to be included. She was awesome.

[homasse]

And if they're gonna be all "gotta be a princess" about the whole thing, Pocahontas should be up in there, too.

But no, the Disney Princess line tends to be massively whitewashed. Where's Mulan? Where's Esmerelda? Where's Pocahontas? Where's Tiana? And yeah, most of the time, where's Jasmine?

...and now I feel like having a Disney movie marathon. But I am at work. :(

[lickety_split]

Okay excuse me, I'm gonna butt in and be a stan here. The photo in the article is really dated. The modern princess lineup looks like this: