Little Girls Or Little Women The Disney Princess Effect Analysis

In the article, “Little Girls or Little Women: The Disney Princess Affect”, Stephanie Hanes shows the influential impact that young girls, and youth in general, are experiencing in today’s society. This article goes in depth on the issues that impressionable minds experience and how they are reacting as a result. “Depth of gender guidelines” has been introduced to youth all around the world making it apparent that to be a girl, you have to fit the requirements. Is making guidelines of how you should act and look as a gender going too far?

I feel like it’s not society’s place to describe to young adults and children who or what they should be in general. They should be able to define who they are and what they want to be on their own terms.

For example, one of many aspects introduced into this article was pressuring girls to demand on “prince charming” and to be the perfect girl for that man. Children today even dress as the princess they aspire to be to fit that image of being a princess that “every guy deserves.” Multiple young girls close to my life I’ve seen pretending to be a Disney Princess and spend all day on trying to be the perfect woman for him, even though they are only ages 4-8. The fact I see these young girls act out being a perfect woman for the perfect man shows the peer pressure they feel to grow up and be in that part of their life already. They want to skip their childhood and be with prince charming. The only “play pretend” they get to experience anymore is playing house for the man they’ll marry one day and the family they might have. They don’t daydream about being a doctor or being in a different country, they dream about a part of their life they will get to have. They are rushing to that part of their life instead of enjoying being a child.
The fact that all these girls are acting out their marriage and what their life is going to be can cause a lot of disappointment in their lives.

Fallen expectations can lead to other coping mechanisms for today's youth, such as adultery. One fourth of 14 to 17 year olds have admitted to sending or recieving porngraphic or nude photos (Stephanie Hanes.) Speaking of past experiences, I was put in the place of having to plan my entire wedding for a class Sophomore year. The amount of stress and strain it put on me mentally can only help me to imagine how young girls cope with thinking of their marriage that is twenty years away when they should be worrying about other things. When I was younger, thinking of the guy I was going to marry and planning my wedding was the last thing on my mind. I was focusing on trying to ride a bike, pick on my brother, playing hide n’ seek, getting Webkinz stuffed animals, and dreaming of owning a horse. When I was little, sexual influences were not as apparent as they are

today.
Parents today can chose to “opt.” out of showing their kids Disney movies and allowing them to be subjected to female stereotypes.

As a child, I did not often watch princess movies so a strong female stereotypical image was never introduced to me. I found out who I was by myself and by the people who surrounded me in everyday life. I was allowed to chose who I wanted to be, free of the idea of who I should be. These movies and the people around me didn’t pressure me to be sexy so often enough my outfits consisted of mud covered jeans, stained tennis shoes, a t-shirt, and a wild ponytail. If parents chose to “opt.” out of showing their kids movies and other media that influences female stereotypes, the children of ours and future generations have a higher chance of having the freedom to choose for themselves who they want to

be.
In conclusion, the article made it apparent that there is heavy influential aspects in everyone's life especially in today's youth. It’s not society’s place to decide who we should be. We have the freedom who we want to me, and the choice who we can or cannot be should not be up to society.