“ Little Girls or Little Women? - The Disney Princess Effect” Are the little girl 's in America being cheated of their privilege of having a childhood? Stephanie Hanes, a freelance journalist, believes so and she decided to express her opinion in the article “ Little girls or Little women ? The Disney Princess Effect”. Hanes argues that today’s society is morally ambiguous because of the sexual messages being sent to young girls. In consequence of this , toddlers now aspire to attain the pre-teen goal to be sexy at such an early age. It all begins with the influence and example that The Disney princesses give to their young fans. For the reason that the article appeared in magazines and in the USA today , the targeted audience must be …show more content…
As the article advances and the discussion gets broadens, Hanes shifts to the thought that Disney is not the only one who is generating the issue. The author states that it is also the way females are portrayed in general on TV. It is logical to think that toddlers act out what they observe around them, and that those habits learned will develop as they do, or at least that is what Hanes believes. The author attempts to reason by describing that little girls who grow up watching such movies and TV shows are most likely drop out of a sport because of the believe their bodies do not look good playing the sport ( Hanes 3). “ Girls see cheerleaders ( with increasingly sexualized routines ) in TV far more than they see female basketball players or other athletes” ( Hanes 4). The author uses logos when discussing this to convince the reader that TV really does send a misleading message. Hanes argues that it all starts with a seed that is planted in a toddler 's eyes when she was younger. Hanes continues to say that the only way to stop this , is to completely block out Disney movies and TV shows that contain such content like this ( Hanes 3 …show more content…
The reader feels disturbed, anger and enraged at the beginning and all throughout the article on Disney and TV in general. Disney in specifically because of its intended audience, which is children. Hanes says “ The $4 billion Disney Princess empires was the first step down a path scarier challenge , from self objectification “ ( Hanes 2) . Notice how Hanes uses the word objectification and first step , these words set the tone of the article. Some of the audience might of felt betrayed by Disney for making and promoting movies/shows that cause that type of change in a little girls life in such an early stage. The audience could as well be questioning themselves if the Disney company was doing it on purpose. Hanes says ,“ Hannah Montana, then High School Musical. I thought it was so strange that these were the new trajectories of female childhood” ( Hanes
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
In “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” Stephanie Hanes covers the sexualization of young girls and women in every aspect of the media that influences children and teens. She explains that girls see media figures, movies, and sports being sexualized, and how this is causing children to associate looking and acting a certain way to being ‘the perfect women’. Hanes believes the hypersexualized media is causing girls to obtain a negative body image and it’s killing their self-esteem. The author proposes what she believes society should do about overcoming this obstacle, and how people can crush the stereotypes about women; to her everyone is responsible and should aid in fixing these problems. She explains that the media
Presently, Disney known for its mass media entertainment and amusement parks technically bring warm feelings to many children and some adults. Personally, Disney elicits magical fantasies that children enjoy and further encourages imagination and creativity. For decades Disney has exist as an unavoidable entity with its famous global sensation and reach. Furthermore, Disney is a multibillion dollar empire with an unlimited grasp on individuals and territories. An empire per se, since they own many media outlets, markets, shops, etc., you name it they got it. However, the film Mickey Mouse Monopoly presents an entirely new perspective on the presumed innocence projected in Disney films. This film exposes certain traits Disney employs and exclusively portrays through its media productions, specifically cartoons for directing and nurturing influence beginning with children. Mickey Mouse Monopoly points out camouflaged messages of class, race, and gender issues in Disney films that occur behind the scenes intended to sway viewers towards adopting Disney values.
Stephanie Hanes opens up the article with an experience a woman named Mary Finucane had with her daughter. The 3-year-old, Caoimhe (Keeva), became a more passive child than she was before discovering the world of Disney Princesses, which her mother credits to be the cause. Mrs.
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?
Your sparkling eyes gazed at the television, reading the word “Cinderella” by Disney. You had all your Cinderella toys lined up, ready to grab whenever necessary. Your Cinderella pajamas on, and your tea set is all prepared.Your mom adored your love for princesses. Didn’t we all love to sing along to the Disney movies about princesses and true love? Peggy Orenstein sure didn’t. Peggy Orenstein, the author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter has a sharp opinion about how a “pretty and pink” culture is influencing girls in a negative way. The author proves this argument by discussing gender colorization, dolls, and princesses.
Recently, the conflict of young girls portraying characteristics of women is increasing. Because of media influences, children are beginning to look and act in ways that mimic the lives of adults; the information they are learning is nowhere near age appropriate for these children. Girls are being taught to focus more on their appearance. They are being taught from a very young age that it is most important to be skinny and look pretty. Girls are learning to treat themselves as objects rather than people, and allowing themselves to be seen as objects, they allow others to treat them that way. One program in particular, “Toddlers and Tiaras,” sexualizes young girls, and produces such thoughts due to the broadcast that it has to the world.
Society cements certain roles for children based on gender, and these roles, recognized during infancy with the assistance of consumerism, rarely allow for openness of definition. A study conducted by Witt (1997) observed that parents often expect certain behaviors based on gender as soon as twenty-four hours after the birth of a child. The gender socialization of infants appears most noticeably by the age of eighteen months, when children display sex-stereotyped toy preferences (Caldera, Huston, & O’Brian 1989). This socialization proves extremely influential on later notions and conceptions of gender. Children understand gender in very simple ways, one way being the notion of gender permanence—if one is born a girl or a boy, they will stay that way for life (Kohlberg 1966). “According to theories of gender constancy, until they’re about 6 or 7, children don’t realize that the sex they were born with is immutable” (Orenstein 2006). The Walt Disney Corporation creates childhood for children worldwide. “Because Disney are such a large media corporation and their products are so ubiquitous and wide spread globally, Disney’s stories, the stories that Disney tell, will be the stories that will form and help form a child’s imaginary world, all over the world, and that’s an incredible amount of power, enormous amount of power” (Sun). Because of the portrayal of women in Disney films, specifically the Disney Princess films, associations of homemaker, innocence, and dependence are emphasized as feminine qualities for young children. Thus, children begin to consider such qualities normal and proceed to form conceptions of gender identity based off of the movies that portray the very specific and limiting views of women (...
There comes a time in every parents life that their child finally grows up. Unfortunately, the age that this is occurring is decreasing with every generation. In the article “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” the author, Stephanie Hanes, informs us of the growing sexualization that is occurring to the younger generations of girls all over the world. Hanes’ style of organization and use of examples and statistics not only appeals to the audience’s emotions but to the credibility of the article itself. The transition gap between early childhood and early adulthood is becoming smaller and smaller.
A majority of her argument is supported by her personal feelings on the issue. However, as a mother with a daughter who admires princess culture, she has her daughter’s experience to support her argument. Additionally, after examining the characteristics of princesses such as Snow White and Cinderella, she emphasized that there are less desirable role models that could influence young girls than Disney princesses. To further emphasize this point, she adds examples of pop musicians who are known for being risqué. Liechty (2015) questioned, “we don’t want our daughters learning that if you work hard and are good and sweet, even in the face of difficult circumstances, you’ll find happiness?” (p. 471). By doing so, she illustrates some of the positive effects that princess culture has on young
Since Disney’s Snow White appeared in 1937, Disney princesses have been a present in pop culture. With the release of new movies frequent and re-release of decades old movies inevitable, a continuous stream keeps Disney princesses in the foreground of adolescent society. It is with the value of entertainment they have been created and as entertainment they should be viewed.
Media plays a bigger role in influencing children’s identity. The media plays an important role in constructing ideology. However, most of the time what is produced in the media is mirroring what is already happening in the society, in other words mirroring reality. When children tend to see the same image and representation happening on television over and over again, they will become familiar with that identity (USC Anneberg, 2013) and it will spark a stereotypical thinking in them. By examining the portrayal of identity in the princesses will enable us to see that the portrayal of identities are not natural.
Movies like Disney have affected our minds at our youth though movies. In Paul Castillo’s writing, the negative effects of Disney on children, he talks about how Disney is this family-friendly corporation, yet he argue, “…are we looking deep enough?” (Castillo). This makes you think, if we are just scratching the surface, who knows what would be underneath? Castillo then goes on to say, “It is from these movies that children often get their first impressions of how men and women are supposed to act.” (Castillo). People said that the first impression is important, so the first movie or show will influence that person. Knowing this, you’ll now understand Disney’s power over everyone. Everyone, know what Disney is and or of them, their influence are targeting at a young age. Sleeping Beauty, a movie created by Disney and is mostly watched by children, is “one of the archetypal Disney princesses” and Castillo have shown an interesting point, “Aurora [, the protagonist,] is described as an extraordinarily beautiful woman…however, you will notice that Aurora’s figure is as impossible as a Barbie’s for humans…” (Castillo). What Castillo is trying to say is that children’s who see this is interpreting beautiful as Aurora, a young gorgeous woman, this will only lead them to
Princess films are centered around a female character who meets the love of her life and, like in other fairy tales, ends with their wedding (Ross 4). Initially, the Disney princesses’ have portrayed a typical female role in the film, showing the expected gender roles in American society (England Descartes Collier-Meek 563). These gender-based stereotypes are influenced by the time period they were made in, but also originating from old fairytales made centuries ago. “Society’s increasing reliance on the use of television and videos to occupy children warrants continued investigation of how exposure to media may affect children. Given that media portrayals like those in the animated movies of Walt Disney often reinforce societal stereotypes related to gender, ethnicity, and culture, parents may consider a more thoughtful approach to the use of television and videos” (Disney Movies 1).
The collaboration between Walt Disney Productions and International Cellucotton Products Company Inc.(Kotex) may have been a result of financial trouble, but nonetheless purports rather unrealistic expectations for adolescent girls. I came to discover The Story of Menstruation as part of a desire to understand the various complexities of girl culture in American society. In doing so, I noticed that the dichotomous media texts marketed toward girls during the mid-century were as difficult a terrain to navigate as much of the media presentations are today. Such materials perpetuate Judith Butler’s theory of gendered performance which underline society’s construction of femininity in order to define what it means to be a “girl.” The primary sources throughout this study often created conflicting messages for adolescent female viewers. For example, Kotex attempted to market a modern woman and was influential in the beginning of a menstrual hygiene education curricula, yet the company simultaneously was also perpetuating quintessential American ideals. Similarly, sex education curricula of the 1940s point to the importance of educating female students about their bodies, yet sexual desire, masturbation, and infidelity were only typically discussed regarding the male