disney affirmations

feministdisney:

“Have you seen Disney’s I am a Princes video? Very positive message:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUGnu0gXtn4 ”

— allye93

Umm haha it’s okay but I’m not sure I’m suuuper into it.  It’s kind of like something I would give a cookie for, but not a cake.   Is it positive that they are defining “princess,” in this video, as something more internal rather than marketing it as a frilly dress and a demure personality?  Yeah, it’s positive.   On the other hand, I just want to be like, yawn. It’s not revolutionary to show a bunch of girls doing sports and “being brave” or whatever- it’s only revolutionary for Disney or for someone time traveling from the American 1940’s.

And I had to laugh/agree with this one comment: 

“Making animated shows and movies where girls are at least 50% of the characters (instead of the not even 1/4 as it currently stands) would do a lot more for girls than a million of these short, twee affirmations.”

Dan Dan 4 days ago 23 

I think that is definitely a good point.   Like sure, you can make a video that thousands of people like on youtube.   But so far they’re not- as far as I can tell- changing the way they actually market and sell the princesses and the “princess lifestyle” to millions of children.    

“I am a Princess. I think standing up for myself is Important. I think standing up for others is more Important”

It’s basically a collection of safe, positive phrases that most girls hear 1000 times during their childhood.  And that doesn’t mean it’s bad to hear such things, but it’s not enough to just stick a “You are strong you girl!” label on everyone and then decide they’ve been given enough to cope with this world.   Our girls of the world don’t need to be told compassion makes them strong.   They need us to make the world a safer and more fair and compassionate place, for them.  

 The problem is never that girls aren’t being told often enough to “be confident in themselves” etc., the problem is that there are so, so many forces combining to stop them from feeling that way in the first place.   

I’ve gotten 4 hours of sleep in the last 3 days and I’m stuck in a plane terminal right now though so maybe I’m being grumpy…

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