Fairytales Promote Gender Stereotypes

When I was a kid I loved Barbie, Disney, drawing cars, dogs, football and especially hockey.  As a teen I loved black, punk rock (oh the joys of discovering riot grrl!) hot pink, heavy metal, public speaking, sewing and super poofy dresses. To name a few things - I don't think that the presence of my ovaries dictated any of these preferences. In the last few years I've read a lot of buzz pieces about how my childhood was supposedly entrenched with secret -isms, and I've realized something....the color pink does not make me any less of a feminist. Princesses and equality are not mutually exclusive concepts. Your daughter can like unicorns and math. She can be progressive whilst dressed like a fairy! Yes, it's annoying and sexist that there is a "girls" aisle and a "boys" aisle. But pretending that it doesn't exist doesn't do your child any good. Allow and encourage your daughter to play with and wear with whatever she wants. Take her shopping in all the sections. If she asks why all the "girls" toys are pink you can use it as a jumping off point in a conversation about why it's unfair to make generalizations based on gender. Or  if she says she wants to shop in the girl aisle explains that there are no girls toys and boys toys but some people unfairly assign these labels, often indicating it using something as simple as color. I think of it this way. If your son liked unicorns and fairies would you support it? And if you supported it would you consider yourself promoting gender equality? Probably yes to both. It bothers me that we support little boys who like stereotypically girlie things (which I hugely support) but not little girls who like the same things. To me, gender neutrality/ equality means neither girls nor boys are restricted from anything based on their sex and are encouraged to explore their own identity regardless of preconceived notions. Not that a girl should never have anything pink and a boy should never have anything blue.Talking to her and raising her to be her own independent, strong, free thinking woman who takes no crap from anyone, is the best way to teach her about gender equality. Teach her she can be/do/dress/play with whoever/whatever/however she wants. Even if that means she winds up liking tutus instead of technology.

The idea of whether harm can be found in young girls wanting to be princesses is just one manifestation of the real and larger problem of reinforcing gender stereotypes. The article in this journal does a great job of summarizing current research on the effects of gender stereotyping, including a point on how Disney princess culture was shown to reinforce stereotypes. http://www.southernearlychildhoo...Similarly, this article evaluates several Disney films featuring princesses and concludes that (shocker!) the films promote gender stereotypes. http://www.familystudies.uconn.e...The works cited in both articles also seem relevant to your query if you are interested in pursuing this question further. Although I know you said you weren't interested in opinion, I don't think it takes a PhD in gender studies to comment on this subject. While your question is very specifically pointed at princess culture, I think it misses the point by asking whether it's harmful. Of course it's not harmful for a girl to have a fantasy about being a princess; what's harmful is when a girl believes her value as a person is determined by how much she embodies those characteristics shared by the princesses she sees in films and books. That kind of conclusion isn't created just by watching a few princess movies --- it's created by a constant stream of messages from media, friends, parents, teachers, etc. that the best kinds of girls and women are beautiful, desirable, marriage/family oriented, agreeable, etc. As the parent of a young girl, it is my hope to teach my daughter (and any other children I may have) that her value lies in her contributions, her morality, and her convictions.