F'in Disney Princesses....

Fine. Alright. I quit. I gave it a hell of a good fight. Burn my damn Women's Lib card.

Today, after a 3.5 year struggle against the Marketing Gods of Disney, I'm throwing in the towel.

I hate the Disney Princesses (for the most part). Weak, shallow, "Oh come save me Handsome Prince" crap.

Yes, Darling owns "The Little Mermaid", "Sleeping Beauty", "Aladdin" "Hunchback of Notre Dame" etc. but I've always drilled into her that she should never ever settle for "Princess-ship" when being the "Queen" is the ultimate in control and self-determination.

We've repeated over and over, "I'm the Queen, not the Princess. I can do it myself"...

It's not so much women's lib stuff but self determination and a sense of adventure. Seriously, who wants to nap thru the excitement (Sleeping Beauty) or have to dress up to impress a guy who can't see it in the very first place (Cinderella)? I'm a do-it-yourself, rely on yourself kind of girl and want my daughter to never be dependent on a man to make it thru life. That's all..

Yeah, well, so...

Today Darling came home from the babysitters with her hair re-done (GRRRR!!!!) out of her usual cute pigtails into braids.

Like Pocahontas.

"Look Mama! I'm Pocahontas!"

And my ancestors (my whatever generation it was great grandmother was her granddaughter) wept and rolled in their graves.

Sorry, guys, I tried, but ya can't beat Disney.

I know that kids movies can't be completely historically accurate, but seriously. "Pocahontas" bugs me beyond belief and I swore she would never see it, so help me GOD!...Thanks, Babysitter...but it's not like I'm going to say anything to you because I don't want to be one of "those parents" and most people would see it as slight liberties with the truth...

SHE WAS KIDNAPPED, CAST AWAY HER FAMILY TRADITIONS AND DIED OF F'ING SMALLPOX!!! JOHN SMITH MADE THE WHOLE SAVING HIM THING UP!!!

Hardly admirable and hardly a Disney ending, really.

I suppose it could have been worse. Don't even get me started on "Anastasia".

Nevertheless, I'm weak, I'm weary, can't fight preschool peer pressure and I give up. As long as I can balance those negative woman images with something more positive like "Mulan" or even "Belle" maybe there's a chance for her self esteem yet.

Handsome says I'm too uptight about it all, but it makes me sick how many ADULTS think movies like "300", "Braveheart" "Glory" et al are true depictions of what really happened.

Sometimes the true stories are more dramatic than the Hollywood versions. They may not be as "cinematically pleasing" but sometimes we need to learn from tragedy and others' mistakes....

But whatever. Someday when Darling's older, I'll sit down with her and have the "Good Heroines/Bad Heroines" talk.

Sigh...

Creating positive self esteem in young girls is a frightening battle.