As un-PC as princesses have now become, our young daughters still love them and adore dressing up as them. It would be cruel to deny them the obvious pleasure they get out of twirling round in a pretty dress – but we can modify the messaging around what it means to be a modern-day princess, so they won’t grow up obsessing about how their hair looks as they wait to be rescued by a handsome prince.
Danielle Lindemann, a sociologist who studies gender roles, must feel similarly because she took to her almost-three-year-old daughter’s much-loved princess book and re-captioned the pages – think gender equality and empowerment.
“The constant inundation with princess stuff drives me crazy,” Danielle, a professor of sociology at Lehigh University, told POPSUGAR. “Because it’s basically teaching these little girls that their worth lies in looking nice and hooking up with the right guy. Still.”
The book had been given to her little girl as a gift – and apparently she hasn’t batted an eyelid at her mum’s edits.
Power to her mum.
“A princess likes to dress up in her medical scrubs when she goes to work as a neurosurgeon.”
“Jasmine flies through the sky. She holds on to Aladdin because he is scared.”
“What is a princess? A princess is brave. My body, my choice!”
“A princess loves to see new things like a federal standard for paid maternity leave.”
“A princess is a dreamer. It would be great to see more women in the senate…”
