Damsels in Distress: Is the Princess Myth Harmful for Girls?

On a recent episode of the enduring television show The Simpson’s (this was actually the 450th show, but who is counting?) the plot line involved the also enduring Krusty the Clown character being unceremoniously upstaged and outmoded by someone called Princess Penelope (you can watch the episode here). This princess typified all that was feminine, enchanted, and magical about princesses, down to the train of her dress and the unicorn she gracefully rode through the sky. The effect was near narcotic for the girls viewing the show (including Lisa Simpson) and as Princess Penelope would introduce more and more props and tropes of “princessness,” her audience became more and more rabid, enraptured, and ecstatic.

The point of this being that there is some near primal appeal that princess iconography and lore has over young girls (some would argue young women as well). Would it be assuming too much if I said that little girls were hardwired to love all things princess? Generalizations aside, the princess phenomenon is huge, and a huge moneymaker at that. According to the New York Times, sales at Disney Consumer Products, which packaged all nine of its princess characters a decade ago under one royal rubric, have shot up to well more than $3 billion globally from a meager $300 million in 2001. There are now more than 25,000 princess items at last count, and likely a few thousand more after the recent release of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog (featuring Disney’s first African-American princess).

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

jayasri a.

6:48AM PST on Jan 4, 2012

Maybe it depends on the story.

send a green star

KS G.

4:49AM PST on Jan 2, 2012

Thanks for the article.

colleen p.

5:30AM PST on Dec 30, 2011

agreed, we don't need fictional sadness, when the real world has many kidnaped women and girls. who wants to idolize a helpless victim who is trapped or oppressed in anyway.

Marie W.

7:34PM PST on Dec 29, 2011

iii q.

6:35PM PST on Dec 29, 2011

the culture makes a person "weak" or "strong" - not the words...

7:25AM PST on Dec 29, 2011

Carole R. but then people will tell you, "they only do because they are told to". given the opportunity more would want to be vampires, werewolves, dinosaurs, living trains, ninjas and such

Carole R.

10:04PM PST on Dec 28, 2011

I agree with Michele G.. Most little girls love to play princess, to dress up in pretty clothes and have the childhood fantacy. It's fun, it's play. Everything is over analized now days. Little girls have played priness for many years. Most turned out just fine. My guess is the ones who didn't have something deeper to blame it on then playing princess. Relax .....

Past Member .

7:54PM PST on Dec 28, 2011

Let little girls be little girls and have their fantasy. Reality kicks in soon enough and then it's hard to shut reality out.

2:39PM PST on Dec 28, 2011

maybe one bad side to the princess myth, shows that a girl -will- get her prince. she will wait and wait and wait. she will be 11, her friends will be dating. maybe she has personality flaws, or health problems, and she will be abandoned because all her firends have a lover

they no longer play or hang out. school, new friends, sports, and their boyfriend. maybe the girl will not understand why nobody wants her. she won't know what to do with her self. she will throw her self awkwardly at crushes. she will wonder why being her self, even with no personality flaws has her loveless. when her friends have their 4th boyfriends. they did nothing and the most desireable guy in school asks her them out, out of the blue.

I will make a princess movie where she dosen't get the guy. even if they saved eachother.
for her to be to shy to tell him how she feels. Prince will go for her friend/sister/horse/bartender.

princesses also tell you, you will get the happy story. no matter what. not just you need a hero-hubby. (anyone who does should be reticule to death, what kind of woman is helpless like a aquarium fish?)
somtimes, no mater what. you don't get a happy ending.