Keep the Dragon, Slay the Princess

I was driving around town the other day when I saw a license plate rim that said, "Brooke is a Princess". It was on a zippy little car with pink seat covers and a sparkly jewel hanging from the rear-view mirror. It makes me wonder. How did Brooke get such a doo-dad? Did she, in her forlorn and lonely grasping for self-importance, buy it for herself? Was it a gift from her loyal and adoring subjects? Or more likely, was it a gift from her over-involved, indulgent parents? Which leads me to wonder, what kind of parents truly want their daughter to emulate the image of a princess? Why don't we see rims that say, "Brooke is a Humanitarian" or "Brooke has Integrity"? Our society is suffering a literal pandemic of "pink". The princess marketing used to be confined to one aisle in the toy section but it is spreading, like a fungus or a wild fire, to all areas of department stores. You can buy princess toothpaste, breakfast cereal, sleeping bags, bicycle helmets, and you can buy so much pink bedding, curtains, rugs, and fuzzy cushions that your daughter's room will look like it was hosed down with Pepto Bismal. What's next? pink princess car batteries? Just wait.

There are some serious flaws in the fairy tales, both classic and modern, that we so innocently immerse our children in. If polled, most parents would say they value education, character, independence, and manners above appearance and popularity, but fairy tales teach just the opposite. Think about how Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and even the Little Mermaid and Jasmine attracted their princes. Was it because they were smart? courageous? capable? kind? No. The princes were smitten by their beauty before they had had a word of conversation and before they even knew their names! And why are these princesses always in need of rescue? There they sit helpless, in trances, and under spells waiting for someone to free them. Why couldn't Rapunzel get herself out of the damn tower? They are portrayed as being kind, but it's in a bland, plant-flowers-and-befriend-the-woodland-creatures sort of kind rather than the sacrificing to help the poor and needy sort of kind.

When you consider the historic role played by princesses, it was mostly as currency used by their fathers to be given in marriage in exchange for advancement in land, privilege or politics. They weren't given great responsiblities beyond producing an heir. Granted, there are exceptions to this, like Cleopatra or Queen Hatshepsut who wore a false beard to garner more respect, but this is not who little girls are thinking of as they prance around in their fluffy, pink dresses. Truly, they are pretty ignorant of the history behind their antics. Their image of a princess is one who is beautiful and adored and tells other people what to do and gets her way because she is beautiful and adored. Neither the historic or imagined role of princesses should be encouraged in our daughters.

I don't really think that reading a bedtime story is at the root of the princess problem, but all too often, the pink of Disney princesses gives way to the self-centered irreverence of David and Goliath, (the company, not the Bible story), that promotes such ideas as "I'm too cute to do math", or "your anger makes me happy", or "it's all about me, deal with it". I'm sure the founders of the company would argue that these are tongue in cheek phrases meant to be satirical, but, seeing how most of these MTV watching, tight shirt wearing, co-ed sleep overing teens behave, I'd say the satire is lost on them. If you want to see what happens when the princess phenomenon is taken to the extreme, just watch an episode of "America's Next Top Model" (and keep that Pepto handy). If my daughter ever behaved in that manner, I think I would kill myself, right after I killed her, and Tyra Banks.