WHAT? "[The Disney Princesses] are dangerous, anti-feminist role models for young girls"?

Growing up my mother was my role model. I watched Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, etc. to escape to a world of fantasy and beauty. A world where love conquered hate and where you were allowed to be a dreamer. I took no political messages from it and I never saw it as a threat to who I am. I really wish we could just let children be children and have a little fun without labelling it politically.

The reality shows of today's woman are praised for being aggressive - the result many women and mothers are in the news for killing or abusing children, and even raping underage kids. Have you ever observed girls fight in high school? Boys do not fight with so much anger, viciousness, and long term damage as girls do.

On the other hand, being kind, gentle, patient, nature loving, people loving qualities never prevented girls from growing up smart, caring women who can reach any goal without destructive aggression.

Successful women are their father's princesses forever, and successful men have high respect for their mothers.

Let's not blame Disney characters for the lack of time parents choose to spend and influence their children's character.

Ever tried to look for female role models in the bible ? That , is worse . And that is besides the fact that this culture encourages simply being pretty and compliant as enough for females , and for males essentially tells them , the had better have material wealth for impressive vehicles .... and an instinct to kill in order to solve problems . Look to actual history , not pop culture for role models ,and , yeah , a lot of them suck too . You just have to dig .

um yeah they are horrible role models.which is why you actualy raise your kids as opposed to letting disney instill her values for you.
just a crazy idea i know

A couple things about the Disney Princesses:

First, the article doesn't rank the princesses at all, it states their strengths and weaknesses, and presents them in their chronological order of film appearance. Thus the "ranked them according to the example they set" is disappointingly deceptive.

Second, I have a three year old daughter who I've tried to keep princess free. However, I live in Orlando (strike one), I have a mother-in-law who loves anything Disney (strike two), and a daughter, who despite my effort is drawn to the stuff (strike three). She still doesn't have a princess dress though!

As a result I've learned to kind of embrace it. Some of the princesses like Mulan and Tiana, and are actually good role models. Others, like Belle, Jasmine, and Rapunzel I find myself rather indifferent to, bust at least they're not passive. Some, like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Ariel, I find to be rather bad role models. However, it's all in how I as a parent frame it for my daughter.

She's only three, so in depth discussions about female domestication, co-dependence, foolishly rushing off into bad situations, and the fantasy of having a prince sweep you off your feet haven't really come into play. Yet, I can discuss how Ariel makes a very bad decision when she foolishly trusts Ursula. I can say that Belle shouldn't, and doesn't put up with the verbally abusive Beast. And I can praise the courage of Mulan, and the work ethic of Tiana.

The real problem with the Princesses is not really the Princesses themselves (so long as a girl grows out the fantasy). The problem lies in the fact that the princesses are bait for the far more insidious Disney tween market. Once they sell a child on the princess stuff it's very easy to sell them on Hannah Montana or whatever iteration of that kind of crap they're on now. I find that stuff to be more damaging due to the fact that the shows and the marketing are aimed at young and tween girls, yet the shows feature teenagers dealing with teenage problems (minus all of the actual responsibilities of being older). Then the young kids seek to mimic the behavior of their significantly older idols. Eight year-olds shouldn't be worried about teenage things like dating, makeup, and the obnoxiousness of parents. I know it's a bit of slippery slope, but the Princesses are kind of like a gateway drug to media products that are far more corrupting.

Radical feminism is dangerous role models for young girls.