Traveling to Princessland: Is the Princess Craze Third Wave Approved?

As a Feminist, I have often been a defender of some Disney Princesses like Ariel and Belle, who I feel, introduced me to feminist ideas early in life. However, even I can’t get behind the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique highlighted by Judy Dutton in Airtran’s GO magazine this month. On my flight home from visiting my mom, I was intrigued by the article titled “The Princess Complex,” but ended up mortified and frustrated.

The article focuses on various pampering opportunities for children when they travel with a focus on the Disney boutique. This opportunity to “transform” young daughters into princesses includes using the “magic of hair extensions,” make up, accessories, and of course the princess outfit complete with heels (34). While a mother describing her daughter’s hair as “mousy” and encouraging strangers to heavily makeover her 3-year-old child is worrisome, this was not the part that stuck out to me the most. There are three points of this article that I found highly problematic—Dutton’s use of feminism to justify these toddler makeovers, the author’s own conversion to “Princessland,” and the stereotypically gendered princess lessons.

Dutton has moments where she is clearly conflicted with these princess centered activities, but validates the makeover early on by essentially laying some of the blame on third-wave feminism, “Reasons for this royal craze range from Disney’s marketing ingenuity to third-wave feminists insisting girls can be pretty and powerful to parents’ desire for ‘safe’ role models in a unsafe world” (37). While one of the facets of the third-wave is a more nuanced look at the performance of gender (including wearing make-up), I feel confident that the third wave contributions of intersectionality, multiplicity of identity, and a broader definition of gender were not intended to encourage young girls to engage in privilege laden act of socially constructed self-beautification. Not to mention that there are plenty of safe role models beyond Disney, like Hilary Clinton, Alice Paul, Rosa Parks, and the multitude of other women that have made amazing contributions to the world throughout history. So why are moms still supporting this princess craze?

                          Before Boutique                After Boutique

Just as young daughters get carried away in the fairytale mythology, so do some of the moms. Dutton explains this as her daughter excitedly waits to see Cinderella:

In spite of my qualms with fairytales’ wait-for-the-prince-and-everything-will-be-fine credo, I find myself entranced as I watch this seminal meeting unfold…The moment, I grudgingly admit, is magical for my daughter—and I’d be lying if I didn’t confess to a contact high myself. (37)

It was when I read this point that I remembered my own conversion to Brideland only months ago. In her 1994 article “Brideland,” Naomi Wolf describes the magnetic pull of the fairytale princess wedding and its ability to supersede feminist sensibilities or logical thought. Despite her repugnant feelings on weddings, she describes the eerie ease with which her conversion into the eager bride took place—a conversion I myself had to negotiate. When I read Dutton’s description of her “contact high,” I couldn’t help but see the similarities between what I now think of as Princessland to Brideland. Wolf describes how the fantastic elements and feelings of nostalgia enable a feminist to rationalize buying a dress reminiscent of Victorian times or even making extraordinary demands based on feelings of self-entitlement. Is this the same thing that happens in Princessland? Do you see your daughters’ clear elation and the general splendor of the fantasy environment and later rationalize it with your feminism? If Brideland is any indication of the power of gendered traditions, then the pull of Princessland land can’t be ignored and may even be a precursor to Brideland. More importantly, how does the conversion to Princessland prime youth, and potentially parents, to accept gendered lessons on behavior?

Reacting to her daughter’s excitement at meeting her “BFF” Cinderella, Dutton and her partner organize another princess meet up for her daughter. At this Epcot dinner, Dutton asks if the princesses can give her daughter some advice:

I ask if she has any life advice for my little princess. “Yes,” Cinderella says. “Always be home before midnight” (a lesson I [Dutton] enthusiastically endorse). Ariel from The Little Mermaid advises Indiana to “practice your singing and swimming.” Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Belle from Beauty and the Beast all urge her to hold out for true love. (37)

My own love for Ariel and Belle led to vocal response of Oh My Dear God (to the confusion of the man sitting next to me on the plane) upon reading this section. Really Disney?!? You couldn’t think of better advice then to pursue socially sanctioned feminine activities and abstinence until prince charming comes along? So lets break this down—girls need to be home before midnight for their own protection, girls improve themselves through artistic pursuits and exercise, and girls must maintain their purity. What’s so frustrating about this to me is that Ariel could have said, “Be Adventurous” and Belle could have said, “Make sure you read and focus on school first.” This becomes even more upsetting when you remember that prior to this conversation, Dutton’s young daughter was thoroughly primed to listen to anything and everything her “safe” role models had to say. At the age of 3, Dutton’s daughter is already being taught the social “value” of self-beautification and the notion of staying “pure.” Furthermore, Dutton has negotiated this by saying that third-wave basically made this okay.

So what do we do with this as feminists? In terms of child travel options, Disney is still a top choice, despite the company’s role in supporting unfriendly policies for working families. As Dutton herself points out, her daughter is “one of thousands” of kids participating in the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (37). So, how do we still travel to Disney without girls seeing princess everywhere they go? I remember that when I as young and going to Disney (as a native Floridian we went to Disney often) the princess focus just didn’t seem to be there in the same way. I remember begging my mom for 101 Dalmatian toys and gigantic lollipops, not a princess tiara. Any suggestions feminist travel moms?