In ALCOHOLISM TREATMENT / Tags: banned, books, characters, distress, fairytale, from, girls, involving, little, princecharming/damsel, Should /
Question by The Equalist: Should fairytale books involving prince-charming/damsel in distress characters be banned from little girls?
If a husband does all the handywork as well as works a full-time job, while your wife doesn’t — then there’s no reason for her or anyone on the outside to complain of her cooking and cleaning.
Men do their part. Women should do their part as well. Child-rearing, cooking, and cleaning is not “demeaning” and never was. It contributes to the household and is therefore important.
It’s beginning to look like a lot of women just want a rich Prince Charming man to sweep them off their feet so they won’t have to work or do any chores, so they can just eat chocolates and watch Oprah and soaps all day.
I think fairytale books about Repunzel, Snow White, Cinderella, and Romeo & Juliet should be banned from young girls. Seriously. They grow up to be women with Fairy Tale Complexes that think men were put on earth to bow down to them and worship their every movement and serve their every need. Then they get disappointed, depressed, and binge-eat when they face something known as reality.
Following this reaction, these women then turn into man-haters and femisandrists that then begin to question and complain that “there are no more good men”? Are there really no more good men? Or just no men that live up to your high fairy-tale expectations?
Carrie: Most people don’t “like” chores, but they must be done. Some do actually find cleaning and chores to be a form of stress-release. I know I enjoy cooking because I’m good at it. Men and women grow up doing chores. Deal with it.
Let me also state that these books are detrimental to young boys as well. They grow up feeling inadequate because most likely they will be unable to live up to the impossibly-high standards of being the prince charming that “rescues” women — and it’s intimidating to young boys who grow up trying to be that “knight-in-shining-armor” that rides over the hilly horizon on his white horse. Even though it’s 2007, and not medieval times, it still applies — the white horse is replaced with an expensive car with shiny expensive rims, and the “knight” status is a form of societal status and the “shining” element represents economical wealth and “bling” — all this is used to meet the expectations of today’s Western Woman, all which are nearly impossible standards a man must meet in today’s society.
Trish the Dish: Me stating that the books should be banned is merely “tongue-in-cheek”. I’m well aware that they won’t be banned and can’t be banned. Thanks for missing the point. The point is that parents have the power to not subject their children to such nonsense which unfortunately lays a groundwork for what children think life should be like in their future.
Best answer:
Answer by ©å®®ĩε
I’m not exactly a fan of book banning, but I don’t think that traditional fairy tales are especially healthy for girls. I certainly won’t buy my theoretical daughter/s any of that sh!t.
Quick question – does ANYONE want to work or do chores???
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
13 ResponsesLeave a comment ?
LOL yeah let’s burn ‘em, it’s not like you plan on reading any, no instead you’ll have some biased critic write up a review and adopt it as your own opinion.
Instead of actually teaching children and in turn encouraging adults to have minds of their own, and form their own educated opinions, let’s save the impressionable from themselves by doing away with all books in general. That way the powers that be may think for all of us.
Well it certainly doesn’t contribute to a healthy child, but I blame it on the parents if they let their kids believe such rubbish.
Reading it is fine, as long as they know it’s a fairy tale. Same goes with most things in the media.
well at the very least they should be presented as complete nonsensical fantasy.
(i actually asked a question about this once before:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtzMmvWc5kJ_0Ar2JpEzwi_ty6IX?qid=20070817081748AAhcyIg)
You need to go back to your Fairy Tales and identify any that track the relationship after she gets swept off her feet. To my knowledge, none of them outlined the ‘marriage’ roles, or explained that the man would go to work and the woman got to stay at home and do nothing.
The dangers that people see in Fairy Tales is the notion that a Prince Charming will come along and sweep you off your feet, taking you away from any troubles you have in your life. In my book, it is not a terrible thing for young girls to believe in…that there is someone out there that will love and cherish you. But what is always missing from those fables is ‘what’s in it for the Prince?’ I think that’s where it all falls apart…girls need to realize that they have to build lives for themselves, and not expect someone to come along and GIVE them a life. And also, that the relationship goes both ways….that she has to contribute to the relationship as well…
Who in the world has a rich enough husband to NOT work?
Even if I did – I wouldn’t quit working. I have a life that is anti-Oprah, anti-soap opera and full of reality.
I’m working full-time, going to school and maintaining a marriage (10 years running), a clean, safe home, etc.
There is nothing wrong with children’s stories. The ones who adhere to fairy tales as if they are biblical are people everyone should stay the hell away from!
Why should we ban any book? So because you don’t agree with the premise of these books they should be banned?
Welcome to Freedom. We’re allowed to decide what we want to read. If a parent doesn’t want their child to read such literature, then they can individually make that decision.
I personally don’t think these fairtales are harmful in anyway. I read them all, I watched the movies, and a danced around in the pretty pink dress. I turned out ok. I don’t have any skewed views about life and what I need to do to be happy and successful.
I think what matters most in a person’s development is the care and attention a parent gives to issues. If a parent is diligent and teaches a child what is right and wrong and how the world works, it doesn’t matter what sort of a books a child did or did not read.
I don’t blame you for your opinion, you’re perfectly entitled to it. But that isn’t a good enough reason to take such drastic action.
I agree that fairy tales send girls the wrong message (i.e. Prince Charming sweeps them away and solves all their problems).
As for “chores” or division of labor, child-rearing certainly is not demeaning, there’s nothing more important. But BOTH parents raise a child…are you suggesting that a man is nothing more than a paycheck?
I agree that cooking and cleaning are not demeaning either…but if both parents work, then there should be a fair division of labor…if the couple agrees that she should cook and clean, and he picks up the slack elsewhere, then so what?
Yeah, ban them b!itches!
I know I will ban them from my children’s book lists because I don’t think they teach anything relevant to our children.
1) I don’t like that in most of these tales, they teach young girls that only women can be mean to them-(i.e. the mean witch, the mean stepmother, the envious step sisters).
2) Their message is that there is someone out there to get them killed/tortured/humiliated and their situation can only be changed once they are RESCUED by a man. Therefore, girls may get the idea that they alone cannot change a situation in their lives no matter how negative until they find a man.
3) Some tales even encourage girls to stay in a abusive relationship- while the books describe the main character as noble/beautiful/good- instead of martyr or low self-confident.
Also, I know that the traditional roles of men and women are changing. Traditionally only the woman had to stay home but today more single parents are raising their children alone. It is no longer the role of the mother or the father to change diapers or be the bread winner. In some households the male stays home while the wife is employed and vice versa. We have come a long way but these books are stock in the past.
Thus, I wouldn’t like my girl/boy to get these ideas at a young age. I mean a lot of parents don’t know how their children may be influenced by that what they read/watch on TV. In the US some cartoons were even edited were violence and smoking were depicted- this to me suggests that what our children read/watch can have an influence in them.
I don’t believe in censorship, but if I ever had a daughter, I would never read those books to her. Someone should start writing fairy tales about assertive and independent princesses.
I know plenty of women that work outside the home, and their whinny husband wants them to do all the house work to. Of course you’ll never admit men have faults also. Being a feminist does NOT have anything to do with hating men or being a lesbian. How would you like being accused of being a misogynist or gay, just because you think men should have rights?
Yes of course! It sounds to me like those books are full of ‘The Patriarchy’ (that supersecret organization of nobodies that cannot be identified and is as ethereal as the air itself). But seriously these books probably only contribute to wishful thinking that has no place in modern society.
P.S. Sounds like some have read Fahrenheit 451 a little too much. Cheers!
yes i agree, these children are too young to differentiate fantasy from reality. they think the fantasy Is reality.