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Exploring Gender Stereotypes in Princess Literature

The characters in classic fairy tales such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel are some of the most beloved princess characters of all time. Little girls dream to be just like them when they grow up. Although they are loved by many, the influence they have on young girls and boys is becoming increasingly challenged due to how women in the stories are presented. In most of these classic tales, the princesses are always good, kind, beautiful, and in need of a prince to save them from all their troubles. Cinderella is a tale beloved by children and families all over the world. It is also one that has become scrutinized.

In her book, "Cinderella Ate my Daughter" by Peggy Orenstein, Orenstein discusses princess culture at length and the harmful impact it has on young girls. She explores everything from the toy isles in stores to the books children read and listen to.

“As my little girl made her daily beeline for the dress-up corner of her preschool classroom, I fretted over what playing Little Mermaid, a character who actually gives up her voice to get a man, was teaching her” -Peggy Orenstein

Peggy Orenstein isn't alone on her crusade to bring awareness to parents about the harmful effect this obsession with all things princess could be having on children. Although it took a long time, it wasn't until the 1980's that children's book authors started to re-think the classic Cinderella tale and challenge the gender stereotypes so prevalent.

Although these characters have been reimagined, the princesses do not completely transcend the traditional plot and personality of a princess. The structure of these classic tales has inadvertently led to the reinforcement of some aspects of traditional roles, despite efforts to challenge them.

Traditional gender roles that can be identified in the classic Cinderella story are beauty, submissiveness, and passivity. In contrast to the typical submissive princess character, the more ambitious characters are usually portrayed as being ugly and evil. Examples that illustrate the princess characteristics mentioned are as follows.

In many of the classic versions of Cinderella she is completely reliant on the use of magic to solve her problems. This can be illustrated by the use of magic to provide her with transportation for getting to the ball.

A second characteristic is Cinderella's submissiveness towards her step mother and step sisters. This is illustrated by her inability to stand up for herself when she's tormented by them. A classic example is when her sisters berate the clothing she has to wear.

In most classic versions of the tale she is also completely reliant on a male prince to wash all her worries and problems away.

Most of the discussion thus far has focused on Anglo European ideas. Do the gender stereotypes portrayed in the Anglo European book versions of Cinderella prevail in the multicultural ones?

In this version, I noticed a shift from a reliance on magic to a spiritual existence for the “fairy godmother” element of the story. The ideal of beautiful persisted in this story as Yeh-Shen speaks to the bones of a fish and pleads to have more appropriate attire to wear to the festival. There is also a lot of intentional use of the word “tiny” to describe the slipper and Yeh-Shen’s feet. I know that in China having small feet is a cultural sign of beauty. This is evidenced by the common practice of foot binding prior to the twentieth century. At the end of the story Yeh-Shen slips her foot into the slipper and it transforms her back into the princess the king remembers from the festival, giving off the idea that she needs this attire in order for the prince to view her as being beautiful. A welcome change in this version is the effort towards making the Cinderella character a bit more active than passive. Rather than just having the king find her and match the slipper, Yeh-Shen takes a risk by going to the pavilion to retrieve her golden shoes. She does this not to be with the king, but so that she can speak with her beloved fish again. In this story, Yeh-Shen, gets to live “happily ever after”, but only because the prince saved her. In conclusion, I found this book to largely continue to support classic gender roles of women in fairy tales.

In this Native American retelling, the Cinderella character does not have an evil stepmother and sisters, but is bullied by her biological sisters. As with Yeh-Shen, this story relies heavily on the ideal of beauty as central to the motivation of the characters. In this story, the sisters are “beautiful” and the Cinderella character is the ugly one. The sisters believe they need new buckskin dresses, necklaces, and beaded moccasins in order to marry the prince character. The beauty ideal remains unchallenged at the end of the story. Although when the prince initially sees Cinderella he comments on her beauty, his sister, the fairy godmother character, still presents her with brand new moccasins, necklace, and buckskin dresses and tells her to go wash off in the lake. When she does this, her scars and burns magically go away, creating the idea that she couldn’t be scarred and beautiful. Only then does the prince marry her. The Cinderella character in this story plays more of an active role and does not initially rely on a magic to solve her problems. This is evidenced in the story when she asks her father for clothing items her sisters asked for. Her father says he doesn’t have any more and leaves her with some broken shells and his old moccasins. Rather than sit around and wallow in self-pity, she is resourceful and uses the materials in combination with natural resources in her village to make her own clothing. When she is made fun of for her the outfit she made, she holds her head high and continues walking right through the village.

The third book I explored was Adelita, a Mexican version. This retelling follows the structure of the classic tale very closely. One thing I noticed, however, was that similar to The Rough-Face Girl and Yeh Shen, this story doesn’t rely on magic to solve Cinderella’s problems. In this version it is Esperanza, the family’s caretaker for many years, who helps Adelita. Esperanza is not a character who appears only when Adelita needs help, but is present and mentioned throughout the whole story. When Esperanza is fired from working in the kitchen, Adelita pleads with her stepmother to let her stay, trying to problem solve by protesting she can share her room and food. Also challenging passivity, she places the rebozo she wears at the fiesta outside the window so the prince will see, rather than waiting for him to discover her. This challenges the idea of a passive Cinderella character. The beauty ideal persists in this retelling as well. Her sister claims she is ugly and the prince won’t love her. As a result, Adelita believes she needs new clothes in order to be beautiful. She also believes he won’t love her because she is nothing more than a kitchen maid. A subtle difference is that the clothes Esperanza finds for her belong to her deceased mother and don’t magically appear. The idea of the princess needing to be saved is also apparent in this tale. It is only after meeting the prince that Adelita is full and the meanness she’s suffered for so long begins to fade.

Credits:

Created with images by twigaconseils - "beautiful paris wallpaper" • jill111 - "princess pretty little girl girl dress young"

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