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Bonfire of the Disney Princesses
The Nation ^ | December 11, 2007 | Barbara Ehrenreich

Posted on 12/17/2007 5:46:11 AM PST by billorites

Contrary to the rumors I have been trying to spread for some time, Disney Princess products are not contaminated with lead. More careful analysis shows that the entire product line--books, DVDs, ball gowns, necklaces, toy cell phones, toothbrush holders, T-shirts, lunch boxes, backpacks, wallpaper, sheets, stickers etc.--is saturated with a particularly potent time-release form of the date rape drug.

We cannot blame China this time, because the drug is in the concept, which was spawned in the Disney studios. Before 2000, the Princesses were just the separate, disunited, heroines of Disney animated films-- Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Belle, and Mulan. Then Disney's Andy Mooney got the idea of bringing the gals together in a team. With a wave of the wand ($10.99 at Target, tiara included) they were all elevated to royal status and set loose on the world as an imperial cabal, and have since have busied themselves achieving global domination. Today, there is no little girl in the wired, industrial world who does not seek to display her allegiance to the pink- and-purple clad Disney dynasty.

Disney likes to think of the Princesses as role models, but what a sorry bunch of wusses they are. Typically, they spend much of their time in captivity or a coma, waking up only when a Prince comes along and kisses them. The most striking exception is Mulan, who dresses as a boy to fight in the army, but--like the other Princess of color, Pocahontas--she lacks full Princess status and does not warrant a line of tiaras and gowns. Otherwise the Princesses have no ambitions and no marketable skills, although both Snow White and Cinderella are good at housecleaning.

And what could they aspire to, beyond landing a Prince? In Princessland, the only career ladder leads from baby-faced adolescence to a position as an evil enchantress, stepmother or witch. Snow White's wicked stepmother is consumed with envy for her stepdaughter's beauty; the sea witch Ursula covets Ariel's lovely voice; Cinderella's stepmother exploits the girl's cheap, uncomplaining, labor. No need for complicated witch-hunting techniques--pin-prickings and dunkings--in Princessland. All you have to look for is wrinkles.

Feminist parents gnash their teeth. For this their little girls gave up Dora, who bounds through the jungle saving baby jaguars, whose mother is an archeologist and whose adventures don't involve smoochy rescues by Diego? There was drama in Dora's life too, and the occasional bad actor like Swiper the fox. Even Barbie looks like a suffragette compared to Disney's Belle. So what's the appeal of the pink tulle Princess cult?

Seen from the witchy end of the female life cycle, the Princesses exert their pull through a dark and undeniable eroticism. They're sexy little wenches, for one thing. Snow White has gotten slimmer and bustier over the years; Ariel wears nothing but a bikini top (though, admittedly, she is half fish.) In faithful imitation, the 3-year-old in my life flounces around with her tiara askew and her Princess gown sliding off her shoulder, looking for all the world like a London socialite after a hard night of cocaine and booze. Then she demands a poison apple and falls to the floor in a beautiful swoon. Pass the Rohypnol-laced margarita, please.

It may be old-fashioned to say so, but sex--and especially some middle-aged man's twisted version thereof--doesn't belong in the pre-K playroom. Children are going to discover it soon enough, but they're got to do so on their own.

There's a reason, after all, why we're generally more disgusted by sexual abusers than adults who inflict mere violence on children: we sense that sexual abuse more deeply messes with a child's mind. One's sexual inclinations--straightforward or kinky, active or passive, heterosexual or homosexual--should be free to develop without adult intervention or manipulation. Hence our harshness toward the kind of sexual predators who leer at kids and offer candy. But Disney, which also owns ABC, Lifetime, ESPN, A&E and Miramax, is rewarded with $4 billion a year for marketing the masochistic Princess cult and its endlessly proliferating paraphernalia.

Let's face it, no parent can stand up against this alone. Try to ban the Princesses from your home, and you might as well turn yourself in to Child Protective Services before the little girls get on their Princess cell phones. No, the only way to topple royalty is through a mass uprising of the long-suffering serfs. Assemble with your neighbors and make a holiday bonfire out of all that plastic and tulle! March on Disney World with pitchforks held high!


TOPICS: Arts/Photography
KEYWORDS: culturewar; disneybashing; feminazi; homosexualagenda; moralabsolutes; radicalfeminism; savethemales; starkravingsocialism
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To: NonValueAdded

21 posted on 12/17/2007 6:26:42 AM PST by Tax-chick (Every committee wants to take over the world.)
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To: Tax-chick

No smile in the eyes.


22 posted on 12/17/2007 6:39:45 AM PST by najida (Will you dance at my birthday party?)
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To: billorites
Let's face it, no parent can stand up against this alone. Try to ban the Princesses from your home, and you might as well turn yourself in to Child Protective Services before the little girls get on their Princess cell phones

For all her ranting, she sounds pretty ineffective and weak...Maybe she needs a man to step in and get rid of all that princess crap she bought her daughter...

23 posted on 12/17/2007 6:40:21 AM PST by LongElegantLegs (Kill them with kindness, then taser them for fun.)
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To: najida
Obviously she's not living happily ever after.

That picture is from 2003. A more recent photo indicates some plastic surgery since then, and (to be fair) a very flattering haircut.


24 posted on 12/17/2007 6:44:40 AM PST by Tax-chick (Every committee wants to take over the world.)
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To: Tax-chick

LOL!
She’s got the “Punishment Haircut”
(You get your hair cut as punishment for getting older)

Granted, on her, it looks OK.


25 posted on 12/17/2007 6:46:10 AM PST by najida (Will you dance at my birthday party?)
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To: 230FMJ; 49th; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; AFA-Michigan; Abathar; Agitate; Aleighanne; ...
Homosexual Agenda and Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the homosexual agenda or moral absolutes ping lists.

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26 posted on 12/17/2007 6:50:05 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: najida

She’s a raving leftist - look up some of her other articles/books.

Wonder what she thinks of Hillary!, who after all rode her way to the top on Bill’s coattails all the while enabling his disfunctional behavior with other women.


27 posted on 12/17/2007 6:53:37 AM PST by The Right Stuff
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To: The Right Stuff

HC is a great example of “Do as I say, not as I do”.


28 posted on 12/17/2007 6:57:09 AM PST by najida (Will you dance at my birthday party?)
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To: najida

I’ve had short hair most of my life - “punishment” for having hair like a poodle. I think her cut looks nice, although it wouldn’t work with my hair.


29 posted on 12/17/2007 7:14:55 AM PST by Tax-chick (Every committee wants to take over the world.)
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To: Tax-chick

Well,
Folks say short hair looks good on me,
but in the pictures, I look like return of Pumpkin Head.

Not good, not good at all.

With curly hair, it’s cute!


30 posted on 12/17/2007 7:17:34 AM PST by najida (Will you dance at my birthday party?)
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To: billorites

Ms. Ehrenreich, they’re toys.


31 posted on 12/17/2007 7:17:51 AM PST by HoosierHawk (“The quickest way to end a war is to lose it.”)
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To: Tax-chick

Next she will go the mall and tell little children there is no Santa. Then with a glass of white wine she will go home and fell good about herself until the wine it finished.


32 posted on 12/17/2007 7:18:42 AM PST by bmwcyle (BOMB, BOMB, BOMB,.......BOMB, BOMB IRAN)
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To: Sam's Army

You are quite correct. I’ve noticed that in several, disobedience to parents is the norm, and shown to have no lasting repurcussions.

I’ve kept my daughters’ interest in them in serious check. When my (at the time) 3 year old daughter quoted the Alladin movie’s king saying “Praise Allah!”, it was time to pull the plug.

The whole “follow your heart” rubbish has been ramped up in the last 10 years or so as well.


33 posted on 12/17/2007 7:21:56 AM PST by ItsOurTimeNow (Rock of Ages, cleft for me - let me hide myself in Thee.)
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To: billorites
>Typically, they spend much of their time in captivity or a coma, waking up only when a Prince comes along and kisses them

It's a Christian theme--
We must wait for Jesus Christ
to come and Save us,

we can't Save ourselves.
Children's old folktales taught kids
there's more to our life

than we can control.
That is a deep message and
I suspect children

growing up today
all business-like and thinking
they can run their life

themselves without help
(the "empowerment" message)
are examples of

how screwed up folks get
when they're raised on basic lies,
unprepared for life.

34 posted on 12/17/2007 7:24:19 AM PST by theFIRMbss
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To: tioga

I don’t see anything wrong with the princesses, although I wasn’t a prissy kid and neither were my kiddos. The Bratz line though ought to be trashed. What a disgusting product.


35 posted on 12/17/2007 7:40:32 AM PST by secret garden (Dubiety reigns here)
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To: Tax-chick

Hmmm. Her writing reminds me of someone. Who was it? Oh yeah!

Miss Bitters, the elementary school teacher from the "Invader Zim" series! :0)

Some quotes from Miss Bitters:

"The lesson here is that dreams inevitably lead to hideous implosions"
"Doom, doom, doooom! Go home now."
"Be quick! I can only survive so long in the sun."

36 posted on 12/17/2007 7:41:22 AM PST by COBOL2Java (May the Lord bless and keep Hillary Clinton - far away from the White House!)
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To: bmwcyle

In my experience, unhappy people want others to be unhappy, too.


37 posted on 12/17/2007 7:45:28 AM PST by Tax-chick (Every committee wants to take over the world.)
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To: COBOL2Java
"The lesson here is that dreams inevitably lead to hideous implosions."

LOL! I'm not familiar with the show, but I really like this line.

38 posted on 12/17/2007 7:46:28 AM PST by Tax-chick (Every committee wants to take over the world.)
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To: Sam's Army
The earlier films (Sleeping Beauty comes to mind) are not shy
of labeling good and evil, and showing the battle between
the two. The newer one’s seem to have the same blurred-line thinking
that so many hold today in terms of who/what is good, and evil
doesn’t really exist, they are just misunderstood.


As I look after a "Princess" niece maybe 1 or two weekends a month,
I've noticed that as well (there's no escaping the "Princess"
DVD library these day).

Maybe I'm just too old-school but I do have concerns that the
Princess concept might give a little girl TOO much "self-esteem"
or sense of entitlement.
There might be some rude suprises waiting somewhere down the line
that just don't quite match the Princess storylines.

But I'm not a total grinch...there are a LOT worse storylines
to follow..."Bratz", perhaps?
39 posted on 12/17/2007 7:57:05 AM PST by VOA
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To: billorites

Typical ramblings from this physco, family hating, Chritian hating lesbian crone.

http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/2000/april2000/ehrenreich.html

“Freethought Heroine” Barbara Ehrenreich
“My Family Values Atheism”
This article is adapted from the acceptance speech for the 1999 Freethought Heroine Award, presented to author Barbara Ehrenreich by the Freedom From Religion Foundation in San Antonio on November 6, 1999.

excerpt


40 posted on 12/17/2007 8:01:15 AM PST by Grampa Dave ("Ron Paul and his flaming antiwar spam monkeys can Kiss my Ass!!"- Jim Robinson, Sept, 30, 2007)
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