Gender Inequality and Disney Princesses: A Rant

Gender Inequality and Disney Princesses: A Rant

Hello. Today I am writing about why I strongly dislike Disney’s depiction of women and its effect on society. I have very strong views on Disney and Grimm’s fairy-tales, and why they are the opposite of role-modeling for people all over the world. 

Not only do Grimm’s fairy-tales follow a certain archetype, they are also widely known and merchandised, what with Disney taking these stories and transforming them for a wide-spread audience.

This is a thoroughly written, provocative rant, that I hope will give readers insight to my views on Disney’s sexism, and how much it impacts the world.

This rant will cover the following:

-Beauty and appearance

-Weakness

-Dependence on men

The Rant:

First and foremost, there are obvious sexist opinions from the producers of Disney. There are plenty of characters that are portrayed in a number of sexist ways. 

First of all is the Disney princess archetype. The women in Disney are often small and petite, with blue eyes and blonde hair. There are some exceptions to this, such as Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Even she, however, is weak, and shorter than many of the male characters in the movie. She is portrayed as a bookworm, but all she sings about is her fairy-tale ending with a happily ever after. Even this ‘headstrong’ girl, is heavily reliant on her prince. I get it, she fell in love with the Beast. But he is a prince in disguise. 

This tells young girls that they must rely on men, and that they can never truly be independent. 

In the Disney movies, the princesses always wait for a prince to come and save them. This not only tells girls to become obsessed with boys in romantic ways, it says that they do not have to work hard for anything, and that they will always get what they want. 

Disney movies also include male characters who are tall with square jaws who are incredibly brave. (Prince Charming from Cinderella, the General from Mulan, the Beast from Beauty and the Beast.)

These male characters not only tell boys that they need to be strong, they tell girls that boys are stronger than them. The characters also tell both genders that boys are always heroic and  emotionless, and that they should not be weak.  

I think that this is very unfair to both genders. On that note, Disney excludes gay and lesbian characters, transgender characters and other characters of other sexualities and sexual preferences. Disney has a very narrow-minded view on the world, and the ‘roles’ that we must play to fit in with society. 

One thing I cannot stand is the voices of the characters, specifically the singing voices. All of the girls, even Mulan, who is stronger than a lot of the other female Disney characters, has a chirpy bird-like voice. I do not understand this, because as seen in Mulan, the character’s talking voice is low. But in the songs that probably stand out to audiences more than the plot, the voice is high-pitched. 

All the men have low voices, that sound the same as well. Clearly Disney thinks that all girls have soprano ranges, and all men are bratones or bases. This is also extremely sexist, and is accepted by the millions of Disney fans all over the world. 

No wonder that sexism is such a problem in the modern world. With the internet, Disney is even more popularized. The messages on the internet spread even faster than those on television. 

There is another sexist view that should be addressed. It is a common theme in Disney movies for the prince to ‘fall in love’ with a princess. Is this really love, or is it lust?

The prince from Snow White sees her body in a coffin. He does not know who she is, he doesn’t know what her background is or what her personality is like. He doesn’t even know her name. He sees her body and her sexuality, and clearly thinks that she is a conquest or a trophy. And when Snow White wakes up, she seems okay with that! 

Snow White is also one of the youngest Disney princesses, being twelve years old. The prince who comes to ‘save her’ is realistically sixteen, at the youngest, and twenty-one at the oldest. This is also a disguised rape scene. He sees her young body and falls for her, and with his older age and charm, he gets her to like him back. Apparently adult audiences are okay with this, because they show the movie to their children. 

The same scenario occurs in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. The girl is asleep for one-hundred years, and along comes an older, handsome prince who falls in love with her sleeping facade. This is not ‘true love’ in my opinion. It is also lust. He does not care whatsoever, what this girl’s personality is like, or what her opinions on life are. He does not care about this, only her body. 

This is a despicable portrayal of what is acceptable in romance. These movies claim that girls are helpless, and men are only interested in their bodies. The sexism in these particular scenes is clear. 

The original Grimm’s fairy-tales from which Disney took these stories are worse, where the prince actually rapes Sleeping Beauty when she is asleep. Even though Walt Disney did not put this in his movie, the movie still emphasizes and claims that this is okay. 

The commercial industry does not help either. They put images of princesses on girls clothing, which can only be found in girl’s sections of stores. The princess toys are sold in what are usually pink boxes, and have pictures of only girls playing with the dolls. This is segregation of genders, and it needs to stop. 

In Disney’s new live-action version of Aladdin, princess Jasmine is portrayed the same way as the other Disney female characters. Slim, high-voice, and pink-colored clothes. Viewers hoped that Jasmine would not be made into a sexist character in the new movie, but it was disappointing that Disney used the same approach that they use to all of the other female characters. They are conquests, designed to please men. Jasmine’s character in both films is forced to marry a prince. Aladdin becomes one just to marry her, and even tells her that he loves her, when he doesn’t even know her. 

Overall, I am very angry about the way that women are portrayed in Disney films. Not only that, but commercials and designers take this to another level by creating clothes and merchandise with the characters (and therefore sexist views) plastered all over t-shirts and dresses. I am frustrated because this issue does not seem to stop, with new Disney films such as Frozen 2 being released every year.

I would like to have a real princess, for once. One whose body doesn’t define her, who can chose to marry or not marry. One who can reflect change, perhaps as a lesbian or transgender princess who the public admires, just as they would admire a glittery, slim, straight, married princess who dotes on cute animals. 

For once, I would like to see a character who does not look like previous princesses, one who is a different color or ethnicity. I would like to see Disney’s live films try to actually research the cultures of the characters they are showing. 

This is why I am openly against most Disney movies, and their sexism. I am, in fact, furious about the lack of change that we have seen throughout these movies. 

Perhaps we can see a Disney prince and princess who work together to solve their problems, and are equal, with equal rights. Let’s have a princess who works at a laboratory, or a university. Let’s have scientists and engineers, not helpless ‘damsels in distress’. 

I cannot change Disney, but I can alert and educate other people of why the company is so sexist. I think that people all over the world need to realize that Disney does not encourage young people. It diminishes them. 

We can change this sexist way of thinking, by educating people and teaching them what this popular company has done. It has not divided us by plague, or road, or wall, but by a gap in all genders. 

–Helena K. Hollander, at UnicornFantasyBookReviews.com