I think it goes deeper than dress-up. I have a firm belief that some girls never outgrow this childhood fantasy of living in a castle crammed with gorgeous clothes and piles of lip gloss--and a prince who supplies the endless cash.
This post was sparked by two things. One being this excellent article from the Enquirer. I could not agree more with the idea that women need to take care of themselves--rather than suffer the consequences of putting their lives as risk for someone who doesn't turn out to be prince charming. Do not confuse concern with blame--domestic violence is never excused. However, there are certain things that make it much harder for a woman to effectively escape a violent relationship: an inability to earn income to support oneself and depending on a male partner to do everything deemed "man's work." Sadly, the princess mentality feeds into this helpless mentality.
This post was also sparked by a small feature I spotted in Better Homes and Gardens, which urged women to don a tiara whenever they needed some princess time to do what they want without the interruption of their kids or husband. No, literally. Wear an effing tiara.
Herein lies another problem. Do I look down on babies dressed in onesies that say "Princess" or little girls playing dress-up? No. But the problem is, some women never grow out of it. It's the reason we have shows like Bridezilla or women who proclaim birthday weeks or dare anyone to have a baby or a wedding in the same calendar year as they do.
In grad school, I stumbled upon this article. The line "It's just, honey, Cinderella doesn't really do anything," which she uses to explain to her small daughter why she dislikes everything princess, hits home.
Critics, and dare I say feminists, rejoiced when it was announced Disney would be releasing a feature-length animated film starring an African American princess. The author of this article, however, disagreed with the influence it had on girls. She writes:
A princess? Whatever in the world do princesses do? More importantly, how do they get paid? Real life is not a fairy tale, and few folks live happily ever after. So just what are we telling our girls when we dress them up in frilly dresses, dust them with makeup and put glitter in their hair before they really know who they are? We’re telling them outward beauty is more valuable than being responsible, trustworthy citizens who don’t always get what they want. If we aren’t clear what’s acceptable now, we’re setting them up for a time in the not-too-distant future when they want something they can’t have and have no way of dealing with rejection.
Will every girl who plays princess grow up to be an entitled brat who cries when they don't get that six-figure job straight out of state college? Or worse, never learn how to support herself before marrying and having children. Of course not. But when a female child is dressed in pink sparkles in infancy, fed a steady diet of Disney and dons sweatpants with "Princess" written across the ass in middle school--all while being told she is the most special and beautiful in all the land, well, I think it's a recipe for disaster. Try telling Princess Madison or Macenzie that being pretty didn't get her on the softball team or into a good college. Listen to her cry when her first roommate takes up all the closet space. Explain to her that your connections do not guarantee her a cushy job at age 21, fresh out of college. Then tell me the princess trend is harmless.
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