Some of the most stimulating conversations occur at the crack of dawn, amid long yawns and highway lights on the way to work. This particular morning, we were discussing something ostensibly trivial and yet, it has made me consider. Does being a new feminist mean needing new role models?
Nearly every girl has grown up on the fantasy stories perpetuated by relatives giving books at Christmas and by the ever popular Disney films. We were raised on tales of love, opulence, magic and eternity- and most importantly to some people, the idea that a woman desperately needs to be rescued. By no means is this blog the first to address this issue. I remember vividly and episode of Sex and the City where Carrie debated the very same conundrum in her column. She, unlike her girlfriend, Charlotte, felt that the idea of a woman needing to be saved by a man was repugnant. She advocated the premise that in a modern day society, women would never wait around for a man. They would get jobs, get a right-hand ring, and find fulfillment in their individual success. And although Carrie is only a fictional character, she is not alone in this thought process. An article I read once upon a Sunday also comes to mind. The journalist here said that Disney's films were in fact detrimental to the young women of the next generation, and that Disney heroines were not the kind of role models any girl should have. She said that the idea of needing to be attractive and depend on a man would ruin any girl's chances for a healthy attitude towards herself.
I respectfully and heartily disagree. I am willing to concede that women should not be helpless. In a global society as full of potential pitfalls and dysfunction as today's, a woman has to be able to competently look out for herself. But I would certainly argue that at least a few of Disney's heroines do just that: teach girls to be independent and feminine at the same time. Take Belle, of Beauty and the Beast, for instance. Here was a woman who was educated, well read, and philosophical. She ran her household and ran it well, but always wanted more. So much more, in fact, that she rejected the opportunity for a life of being supported by a handsome man. She chose to take her chances and go it alone. Then, when fate did bring a man across her path, she told him to treat her right or not at all. And he listened. She chose a partnership with a man she respected, and a man who respected her. And that is a lesson every girl could learn from.
The long and short of it is, feminism has always been alive and well- in the ability of the individual woman to make a conscious choice about how she wants to live her life, no matter what that life may be. And it is not for us to judge the role models of old. They were products of their own time. But that doesn't mean we can't learn from both their mistakes and their successes. Which is why I will always encourage my daughter to watch Disney films, and to read fairytales. As a daughter of a feminist generation, she will have the chance to make of these things what she will.
Nearly every girl has grown up on the fantasy stories perpetuated by relatives giving books at Christmas and by the ever popular Disney films. We were raised on tales of love, opulence, magic and eternity- and most importantly to some people, the idea that a woman desperately needs to be rescued. By no means is this blog the first to address this issue. I remember vividly and episode of Sex and the City where Carrie debated the very same conundrum in her column. She, unlike her girlfriend, Charlotte, felt that the idea of a woman needing to be saved by a man was repugnant. She advocated the premise that in a modern day society, women would never wait around for a man. They would get jobs, get a right-hand ring, and find fulfillment in their individual success. And although Carrie is only a fictional character, she is not alone in this thought process. An article I read once upon a Sunday also comes to mind. The journalist here said that Disney's films were in fact detrimental to the young women of the next generation, and that Disney heroines were not the kind of role models any girl should have. She said that the idea of needing to be attractive and depend on a man would ruin any girl's chances for a healthy attitude towards herself.
I respectfully and heartily disagree. I am willing to concede that women should not be helpless. In a global society as full of potential pitfalls and dysfunction as today's, a woman has to be able to competently look out for herself. But I would certainly argue that at least a few of Disney's heroines do just that: teach girls to be independent and feminine at the same time. Take Belle, of Beauty and the Beast, for instance. Here was a woman who was educated, well read, and philosophical. She ran her household and ran it well, but always wanted more. So much more, in fact, that she rejected the opportunity for a life of being supported by a handsome man. She chose to take her chances and go it alone. Then, when fate did bring a man across her path, she told him to treat her right or not at all. And he listened. She chose a partnership with a man she respected, and a man who respected her. And that is a lesson every girl could learn from.
The long and short of it is, feminism has always been alive and well- in the ability of the individual woman to make a conscious choice about how she wants to live her life, no matter what that life may be. And it is not for us to judge the role models of old. They were products of their own time. But that doesn't mean we can't learn from both their mistakes and their successes. Which is why I will always encourage my daughter to watch Disney films, and to read fairytales. As a daughter of a feminist generation, she will have the chance to make of these things what she will.
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