Stereotypes In Fairy Tales

Once upon a time, but not so far away, there were fairy tales; stories written to entertain and teach lessons to the adults of their era. As time passed, these stories were told to younger and younger audiences until these same lessons were being taught to children. The result? A generation with skewed morals, outdated views and unrealistic standards for women. The stories have clearly begun to do more harm to children than good, but we continue to tell them. Why? Nobody knows.
Many of these tales we tell to toddlers are actually very watered down versions of the original gory stories, and through the censorship of the gore and violence, many of the original morals have been lost. Take Cinderella as an example. Everyone knows the story: a

Princesses who have jobs, become queens, sing musical numbers (which haunt the memories of parents who have heard them far too many times) and fight just as much as their princes do. Yet these princesses are just as flawed as their ancestors, with the majority of them getting married to the first man they meet barely a month after they meet them. And when you look even closer, these new stories are guilt trips in disguise. If companies can convince parents that their products are in any way educational, those parents are more likely to spend money on the movie and any related merchandise. And so the cycle continues, with companies churning out more movies and more merchandise, capitalising on children’s imaginations and stealing money right out of their parents’

In fact, a study has shown that almost 94% of stories mention physical appearance, averaging at 13.6 times per story. 31% associate beauty with goodness, and some 17% associate ugliness with evil. Moreover, what these tales consider to be ‘beautiful’ is pale white skin, long hair and twinkling blue eyes with no consideration for ethnic diversity, leaving millions of girls all over the world ashamed of their heritage because they feel that nobody considers them to be beautiful, when in reality, everyone has different preferences. A few spots do not qualify a person as evil, but with these lessons being taught to children at such a young age, how do