Gender Stereotypes In Disney Movies

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Disney’s gender roles and female body ideals are the elephant in the room that most people ignore. For decades, Disney movies have been very popular amongst young girls who are looking for role models to guide them, and to look up to. However, these movies help girls reinforce the female ideal that society has created, teaching them how a “real” girl dresses and acts. What are the psychological effects Disney movies have on young girls’ ideal of body image and female gender roles? The Princesses in Disney movies are portrayed as young, voluptuous, and beautiful while the female villains are usually older, heavyset or emaciated , and considered “ugly” or undesirable. These perceptions can give young girls an inaccurate view of what beauty should look like and what they should strive to be. This causes negative effects on how young girls view themselves and can lead to eating disorders later in life. Not only do the Disney movies portray body image inaccurately but they also reinforce gender stereotyping. Throughout each movie the princesses are “damsels in distress,” naïve, and cook and clean while wearing very …show more content…

This can give girls the impression that only skinny is beautiful and that anything outside of Ariel’s beauty is considered “ugly”. Other Disney films like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White are also movies where the princess finds love at first sight. The Princes fall in love with their beauty, and no other factors, such as personality, are referred too, instead their beauty is the main reason they love the princesses. All princesses also have similar body structure and facial features, while also being very symmetrical. These perfect ideals of beauty can cause girls to develop eating disorders, so that they can also be as thin and beautiful as the princesses they look up

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