I thought some of you might enjoy this poem.. I thought it was BRILLIANT. From the dad of a baby girl:
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Meh. He's missing the point. Being a princess and being a bad ass are not mutually exclusive.
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I really loved this.
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princess harlot? princess sexy? I disagree. My daughter loves everything princess and she rocks it. I don't think that equates to her wearing a thong and tube top as a teenager.
my girl is a badass and a princess. she can be a glittery president, or a made up CEO one day if she wants to.
as an aside, I wore thongs in high school and never cared much for princesses as a child.
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@sorrycharlie: I think the point is not that all princesses are hos (obviously they are not), but more that putting our daughters into the role of a princess is preparing her for other roles that society will want to impose, which often have nothing to do with who she really is.
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Well, that was 3 minutes of my life I will never get back
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@mamimami: but how is it different when parents go out of their way to discourage princesses and pink and glitter? Is my kid incapable of becoming anything she wants to be when she grows up because I let her have the poofy pink tutu she wanted? I encourage all my daughter's interests no matter which gender identity they would "typically" fall in to. Actively working against a typically female gender identity isn't any better in my mind. In fact, it simply serves to enforce the idea that feminine is less than.
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@Truth Bombs: Well, I guess one difference for me is that my daughter (or son) will never be a princess. Like, that is not possible. But they could be those other things! So I would prefer to encourage them in that direction.
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@Truth Bombs: princess ≠ feminine.
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@mamimami: My daughter also won't ever be a frog. I don't think that means I should discourage her when she's hopping around the living room screaming "ribbit!"
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Aw man, I didn't realize I was shortchanging my daughter in life by letting her wear purple glittery dresses and crowns around the house. DAMMMMIT
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@mamimami: Yes, I took it as a commentary on the moulds society seeks to pour young women into..... and I interpreted that section (the sexy, ho bit) as the escalation of this phenomenon as the girl grows up - like, where does it end? I didn't hear it as princess bashing as such, but a push back against the people who *only* seek to describe his daughter as pretty because that's all some people seem to value.
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I feel my LO has a pretty healthy range of interests. Princesses are pretty on par with soccer balls, in our house. What's important to me is to read books, draw pictures, and facilitate games that teach her that there doesn't have a be a strict set of attributes associated with a particular role. Princesses can wear hard hats and tool belts and dinosaurs can practice their manners, at a tea party.
I also don't really discourage any type of pretend play. She's never going to be a mermaid, a horse, or a snowman, but she imagines as much, and I think that's pretty natural. I like seeing her mind at work.
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*shrug* My 4 year old is going to be a Princess, Police, Firefighter, Nurse, Doctor, PE Teacher when she grows up. She wears dresses by choice and comes home with dirty fingernails and stained knees. Her clothes are also routinely covered in food (what do you mean there are napkins?). And her hair, yup, down to her bottom and she aspires to have hair like Rapunzel too. Creativity and exploring is good for her little soul and I won't stop it.
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My kids were pretending to be dinosaurs while I watched this. I realized my error and told them to stop, dinos were extinct long ago and their play was unrealistic. Then I realized it was a corporate scheme to make my kids just think they had pea brains so they wouldn't try to read or write since Dino's dont read or write. Hope I can quickly reverse all the self destructive thoughts that they subconsciously internalized while playing Dinos.
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Wow, I knew some people wouldn't love the vid as much as I did, but I am sort of surprised at the hostility it has provoked. Wish I knew where that was coming from!
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@Maysprout: I hope they weren't being a T-Rex or else they're doomed for cannibalism.
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@.twist.: I guess I should warn their friends
@mamimami: I think it's very sexist to say little kids that like sparkles and tutus, fashion and dancing grow up to be dumb whores.
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@Maysprout: Again, like I said above, I don't think that's what he's saying. But it is art, so I guess we can all understand it however we please.
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@CherryBee: that's what I saw the intent of the video to be, as well. The fact that girls are often pigeon-holed into being "princesses" is a disservice to them and the roles they will play as they grow up. That has nothing to do with, in my mind, whether they like to pretend play that they are princesses, princes, dragons, or any other make believe character. Telling a child to "be a lady" as my mom did, or focusing on her looks rather than her abilities, and not encouraging her to be all that she can be, is making her into a "princess," and setting her up to be princess ho, etc. Our society does treat girls differently than it does boys, which is unfortunate. But it shouldn't be that way. We can do better. Isn't that the message of the video?
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https://www.facebook.com/prageru/videos/995271883849001/
These people say that boys are being forced into a girls world.... I'm not saying I agree with either of these videos.
I think most of us just want our kids to be decent human beings that can be kind to one another and achieve success. It's an oversimplification of the goals I have for my girls, but really just don't be a jerk to others and find your own way in our world.
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@mamimami: I prefer not to engage in the debate, but I wanted to let you know that I loved this video. I'm so glad you shared it!
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@mrsrain: Thanks - and you probably made a wise decision, LOL.
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I get it. I mean yeah I get what he's trying to say I just don't think he really does it justice. And as a poet, on an artistic level I am totally not into spoken word in this same cadence and breath that these poets do so that turns me off from listening.
That being said my daughter is a Princess President Firefighter Engineer. She's whatever the hell she wants to be, wearing her tiara while playing with her fire truck.
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@.twist.:
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@mamimami: I think for me, it's not so much meant to be hostility toward you (i swear!) but I just am so tired of the anti-princess agenda. My daughter is 3 and more days than not, she's in full princess regalia - dress, shoes and matching head piece (yesterday she was Sofia). I've let her wear that to the store and her confidence just radiates - she beams! I've seen her face fall on the days I ask her to change into "regular" clothes.
I just feel like saying that girls should fit into the "anti-feminine" role is really just the flip side of saying they *shouldn't* fit into a feminine princess role. I truly believe it has no bearing on fitting into any molds later in life if they really love princesses as a child (or we would have waaaay more dysfunctional adults as a result of Disney, IMO! lol!).
I bristle when people imply that her love of princesses means she is less likely to kick ass as she grows, whether she's doing so in or out of a princess dress
Also, those were all general "you" and "we"s - not personal attacks, promise!
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@mamimami: I like this message too! We're so far gone in the princess direction that people bend backwards to defend it. So it's good art because it definitely hits a nerve and makes people think & talk!
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@sorrycharlie: No, I didn't feel like you were being hostile. I appreciate your comments! I do quibble with the idea that being a princess equals being feminine, and that being a neurosurgeon or whatever is not being feminine. I think the princess idea about femininity is something new, strangely.
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@Maysprout: "I think it's very sexist to say little kids that like sparkles and tutus, fashion and dancing grow up to be dumb whores." - This!
@mamimami: For the record, in our household, being a princess is as gender neutral as being a neurosurgeon. My kid is 3.5 - she crowns her dad as "Princess Pappa!"
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My husband is fairly anti-princess and it makes me laugh because he calls DD princess all the time! He doesn't even realize he is doing it and when he makes comments about how she will "never" get princess stuff, I just have to laugh.
For some reason he thinks of princess as being two distinct ideas: Disney princesses are bad, whereas princesses from Adventure Time are good.
Also, this is making me think of The Office episode where Pam dresses up as Doctor Princess.
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@sorrycharlie: I get tired of the anti-princess thing too...
I only liked this because he was so passionate about his daughter. But I could see a child being resentful down the road for her parents pushy ideas of what she should and shouldn't be. Personally, I won't ever deny my daughter of dressing up in tutus and sparkly dresses. If that's what she wants to do, she'll decide. I will not. I also don't think princess = slut. But I do think very adult, sexy things are targeted to young girls, which is sad.
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@HLK208: I agree. I think the girls' clothing department at Target is worse than the Princess toy aisle, to be honest - holy short shorts!!!
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@sorrycharlie: Yes! Ugh. And totally off topic but my daughter fits in my son's 4T clothing but has outgrown her 4T clothing (same brand). It bothers me that everything has to be tighter for girls
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I think there is a difference between princess "stuff", which can be imaginative and fun and creative, while also possibly being annoying and too focused on appearances, and the idea of being mommy and daddy's princess. I don't like the second concept it drives me nuts! i think it's ok to treasure your child but calling her your princess rubs me the wrong way.
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The princess bashing really rubs me the wrong way because it attempts "elevate girls" by using the same oppressive labels they are trying to eliminate.
When I was pregnant with DD, I was anti-princess. I cringed at my mom buying her anything princessy. She's now 3.5 and looooooves princesses. For the longest time, she thought a "dress" was a princess. And that's the thing - young kids don't associate all the stereotypical damsel in distress, overly obsessed with appearance stuff with princesses. That's what WE adults think. There isn't some imaginary barrier that states that princesses can't also be firefighters. To the youngest kids, it's just clothing and as they get older, it's just make believe.
It's 2016. Isn't a message of support more productive?
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I wonder how old his daughter is. I never thought my tomboyish self would let my daughter near pink and princesses, but well, turns out she loves it. So she has an Elsa bedspread, princess dressup clothes, and princess hair accessories galore. I thought I would have been as adamantly against these things as this guy is, but it makes her so happy and I see no harm
in it. It's not preventing her from being anything she wants in the future. He might see things differently when his daughter is 3 or 4 if she ends up loving princesses too. -
He kinda sounds like a little princess to me.
I have the attention span of a 3 year old when listening to poetry. It completely evades me and this dude sounds like he is rambling. With that said, I'm sure glad to see that as a stand up artist he achieved the same level of greatness as the women he said little girls should model after. Isn't men spouting poetry something every princess wants?
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