Are Fairy Tales Affecting Women's Body Image?

 

             Fairy tales are are a great way of getting a moral, or valuable message across to children. I mean, its what parents read to their children at night before they go to sleep, and its what children grow up hearing at home, and even in school. But, have we ever questioned whether or not fairy tales are doing more harm than good, in influencing the way children, especially our young girls, see themselves in today's society?

 

             Which are the most famous fairy tales? There's Little Red Riding hood. Classic. There's also Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and the list goes on and on. One thing that I see in common, is that the women in these tales, are searching for something. Love, or even possibly a man to share that love with. But let's dig in deeper, and get to the point that I'm making, which is how these women are portrayed. 

 

               How do princesses look like? They're usually tall, fair, with luscious, long, healthy hair. Soft rosy cheeks, red lips, nice colored eyes, the most beautiful out of all of her siblings. Usually, these fairy tale princess descriptions, are only describing a rare type of woman. Little girls and even women have to learn to live with these un-achievable standards in their day to day lives. Girls grow up trying to be these princesses, when in reality they should be learning to grow up loving what uniqueness they have. Today's version of princesses through Disney have also created, visually, a new type of standard, that girls, and women have learned to accept, as beautiful.