From Walt Disney World and Disneyland to princess dolls, books, and costumes, everyone knows who the Disney princesses are when you bring them up in conversation and most can name a favorite right off the top of their head.
The first Disney princess to make an appearance was Snow White, the petite princess in the first animated film created by Walt Disney. A little over a decade later, Cinderella became the second Disney princess in 1950. The trend continued and picked up rapidly in 1989 with four princesses having come out in that decade. There were no new Disney princesses for 10 years after that, but since 2009 the trend has been revived with two new princesses, Anna and Elsa from Frozen awaiting to officially be crowned at a special ceremony at Walt Disney World.
There are 11 official Disney princesses, soon to be 13 once the official crowning ceremony for Elsa and Anna is held. Each princess is breathtakingly beautiful, with a cute figure to complement them. While most of the princesses are white, Disney made sure to include princesses from various other backgrounds to cater to all crowds; Pocahontas is native American, Jasmine is Arabic, Mulan is Asian, and Tiana is African-American.
Most young women, including myself, grew up watching all of the Disney films that starred these princesses and aspired to be like them. Young girls today still look up to their beloved princesses, admiring both the new and the classic. You may be thinking that Disney princesses appear to be perfect and are cute and innocent, so why wouldn’t they be a good role model to our children? Well, all of this may be true, but there are several messages that Disney princesses demonstrate to us that can be detrimental if our children follow in their footsteps. I would like to mention that I personally love Disney princesses and am not trying to bash them, but to enlighten everyone on the hidden messages they illustrate.
The following are the top 10 reasons Disney Princesses aren’t the best role models.