Playing the royal birth

[LongTimeListener]

I've never understood why princesses are any more corrosive to girls than it would be for a boy to root like hell for Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. You have a roughly equal chance in life of getting to either spot.

And even from the logical, data-driven standpoint, there is a wealth of research that more attractive people are more successful.

My daughter is 5, she loves Sofia the First and her favorite Disney princess is Belle (who is pretty tough and independent in her own right). We are expanding her horizons though. She watched Sanford & Son with me a couple weeks ago and she really liked it.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I think it's a fine line. I think it's a bit of a leap to think that watching Cinderella or Snow White teaches girls that they can't be seen as equals to their husbands...

I think, like with anything else, you talk to your kids as they watch so they understand the context and understand that these movies were made a long time ago and things have changed a lot since then.

Sometimes a movie is just a movie.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I've never understood why princesses are any more corrosive to girls than it would be for a boy to root like hell for Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. You have a roughly equal chance in life of getting to either spot.

It's not about whether you have a chance of reaching that station. It's whether reaching that station is a laudable goal to begin with. Athletes are active. Princesses are celebrated for being passive. Brady and Rodgers are celebrated for what they do. Princesses are celebrated for who they are, or who they marry, though Disney and Pixar have changed that somewhat in modern times, so that now characters like Brave are active participants in their own development that just so happen to be princesses.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Diana became very celebrated for what she did.

They're movies. They're parts of the whole. Girls like to feel pretty. Remember going to weddings as a kid? My God did I hate those ****ing things. Ties, good shoes, have to sit still. My sisters LOVED them. They liked to dress up. Just like I liked to play with trucks or a baseball glove. Mars, Venus starts early.

I don't think that's a negative. And since girls do better than boys in school and go to college at higher rates, it'd be pretty hard to draw the connection in any logical way.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Diana became very celebrated for what she did.

Totally agree. And it was admirable. But she had to marry first. I would hope that girls would have focused on what Diana was doing, and aspired to that, rather than aspiring to marrying into royalty. That just gave her the platform.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

You could also argue the same thing about women in this country, like First Ladys.

Obviously, Hillary Clinton was successful on her own, but would she be where she is now if she hadn't married who she did?

 

[Dick Whitman]

You could also argue the same thing about women in this country, like First Ladys.

Obviously, Hillary Clinton was successful on her own, but would she be where she is now if she hadn't married who she did?

No, she would have probably been president already.

Point taken, but bad example!

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I will say this... The fact that you even care about what your kids are watching, puts you above most of the parents out there... We cross paths with so many parents who never watch shows with their kids and they have no idea about the video games they play.

There are shows that I told my kids I didn't want them watching anymore and it's just based on gut, or "Is this harmless?" or "Is this pushing a message that I don't think my kids are ready to deal with at ages 5 and 7?"

 

[Versatile]

You could also argue the same thing about women in this country, like First Ladys.

Obviously, Hillary Clinton was successful on her own, but would she be where she is now if she hadn't married who she did?

No, she would have probably been president already.

Point taken, but bad example!

Yes, I'm sure she would have risen through Arkansas' political landscape in the 1970s and 1980s on her own.

 

[Dick Whitman]

You could also argue the same thing about women in this country, like First Ladys.

Obviously, Hillary Clinton was successful on her own, but would she be where she is now if she hadn't married who she did?

No, she would have probably been president already.

Point taken, but bad example!

Yes, I'm sure she would have risen through Arkansas' political landscape in the 1970s and 1980s on her own.

She would have risen through someone's.