On May 11th, 2013 Disney had the distinct pleasure of inducting Brave's Merida into the Disney Princess Franchise. Whew. At last - a feminist princess has been welcomed into the ranks. Feminism's efforts on the cultural front can only succeed now that Disney: The Great and Powerful has finally accepted girls can shoot arrows and maybe they don't want to get married after all. Merida has been canonized into the official line and will now enjoy that special sort of immortality that Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora/Briar Rose, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, and Rapunzel know so well. Her face will be plastered over every consumer product imaginable, from bedding to flip-flops, and little girls everywhere will be able to purchase their very own Merida costume so they can play dress-up and shoot arrows from atop their sofas.
Except...we've been here before (sing along kids!). Disney has produced strong heroines (royal and non-royal) in the past. Besides Mulan and Pocahontas, two characters who bucked their societies' gender roles to do great things, and Tiana (who just wanted to open a restaurant, dammit; Naveen was a side quest she didn't even know she was on), Disney has given us sarcastic yet tender Meg (Hercules), sharp Kida (Atlantis), brave Nala (The Lion King), adventurous Jane (Tarzan), glitchy Vanellope and brazen Tamora (Wreck-It-Ralph), clever Esmerelda (Hunchback of Notre Dame), hell, I'd even argue for Giselle and Nancy Tremaine from Enchanted since Giselle doesn't blindly marry the prince and Nancy is a business woman with a soft side. Yet all of these lovely ladies have been cast aside by Disney's marketing teams. Unlike the official 11, their products won't get as much shelf space and eventually they'll start to show their age. They're mortal.
For Tiana, Mulan, and Pocahontas, things aren't much better. Sure, they'll be remembered and young kids will continue to watch their movies. Kids will have examples of women entrepreneurs, political leaders, and warriors that they can emulate. Yet there is a price: homogenization.
I'm sure you guys have seen the redesigns that Disney released back in January. In case you haven't here are the princesses you know and love:
And here is what they look like now:
Drenched in glitter, all wearing poofy ball-gowns, most with crazy Victoria's Secret sexy hair. Mulan has already been through several redesigns, and while her current image is closer to her true form in the movie, there's still no suggestion of her warrior woman self. Pocahontas also got the "royal" treatment. Is it me, or does her skin look a little bit...er...paler? A brief skim over the princesses' product pages at the Disney store (Tiana, Mulan, and Pocahontas) show they've all been reduced to that princess glamor Disney is notorious for. Hell, Pocahontas hardly has ANY products, just a few dolls with an extra-shiny belt and a super-shiny jewelry set. Not even official princess-hood can save her from the dusty back shelf.
So when Merida's redesign was released, naturally there was an outcry. She was too sexy, too slinky, too mature for the 8-12 age set she was meant for. Just as Merida's character resists every feminine gender role that Disney has set out, so her supporters resisted Disney's attempt to shove her into the same glitter-soaked box as the other ten. And in the outcry, there was another voice, the "What are you guys talking about??" voice. On CNN.com Peggy Drexler wrote
"The fact is that "babes" can be worthwhile role models, too, and no less so than those women whose looks are more rough and tumble. What's sexist, polarizing -- and most damaging -- is the suggestion that women can be only one or the other: pretty or powerful. Vulnerable or strong. Pink wearing or substantive. These are incorrect messages that serve to confuse and contain. Instead, the message should be about how these days, women can be many things. Girls -- and boys -- are listening."You can read the full article here. Basically she's saying there's nothing wrong with the redesign, it's us "feminists" getting our knickers in a bunch that is detrimental. And she wasn't the only one, a post appeared in my Facebook feed essentially arguing that just because Merida is more feminine and sparkly doesn't mean she's any less brave. Make-up and glamor doesn't change her intrinsic characteristics and the feminists who believe that need to chill the f*ck out! But they're missing the point! The fight wasn't against Merida's newfound (or newly expressed) femininity - if that was the case feminists everywhere would be angry she was wearing a dress in the first place. The fight was against Merida's homogenization, against her going the same route of erasure as the other "strong" princesses.
So finally I get to the crux of my argument, my real reason for perking my head up from behind my Netflix stream and getting on my soapbox. I'm getting REALLY REALLY tired of people thinking feminists are a bunch of misandrist, femininity-bashing assholes who are out to conquer the world and enslave the male sex. Seriously?! Feminism isn't about women being better than men or trying to become women in men's clothing. Feminism is about WOMEN NOT BEING SECOND-BEST. THAT'S IT. FINITO. WHY IS THIS HARD?!
Feminism is all about embracing differences, about empowering women to be ANYTHING they want to be without judgement or harassment from men or other women. To swing it back to the Disney Princess franchise: if I had my way Disney would redesign the redesigns one more time. Merida would wear her green dress with her bow and arrow slung across her back, Mulan would wear the dress she saved the Emperor in (a hybrid of her Ping armor and her match-maker hanfu, a symbol of the synthesis of her feminine strength), Pocahontas would remain the same, Tiana might have a sparkly apron and her yellow dress (or whatever dress she wore when her restaurant finally opened), and the rest of them would keep whatever dress or outfit they wore through the majority of their movies. Cinderella, Belle, Briar Rose/Aurora, Rapunzel, Snow White, Ariel, and Jasmine could keep their normal stuff sans glitter. Or even a little glitter. Goddess knows I sometimes wander into the Disney Store with a stupid grin on my face just to look at all of the glitter and the glamor. "The sparkly!" I drool. "THE SPARKLY!!!"
I'm making a direct appeal to my friends here, to those who have said to me, "I'm all for [aspect of women's rights/feminism that I asked them about] but I don't agree with the way feminists handle themselves/talk about these issues." Guys, do you realize that when you say you can't claim the "feminist" label because it's too rabid or radical you're participating in a kind of erasure? Women, especially feminists, are gas-lighted, called hysterical, slut-shamed, have to deal with a rape culture, and have to fight too hard and too often for autonomy over their reproductive organs, and if we speak out against it we have guys calling us femi-nazis (because equal rights is totally like invading Poland) and sluts. They try to shame us into silence and sometimes it works. It works when rational women and men refuse to call themselves feminist for fear of being seen as rabid man-haters.
I'm kind of a mute and I don't often try to raise a battle cry, but I'm making an attempt, just this once. I'm asking you: call yourself a feminist. The movement needs you, it needs your face, it needs your voice. If you continue to say "I'm not a feminist" then your siblings, your parents, your best friends, your peers, might continue to capitulate to their fear that feminists are simply misandrists and they won't speak out against the gross inequalities many of you already recognize. The idea that straw feminists actually represent real feminists will continue to persist. I don't want that to happen. It doesn't have to happen.
Okay, that's it. Night, loves.
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