A Disney Princess Feminist

I wasn't recently reading this article on Jezebel about a young woman who has petitioned Disney to have a plus-size princess. Meme Roth has some pretty insane opinions about how "horrible" this would be for young girls. This got me thinking about, you know, the whole princess thing. 

I have the privilege of working with a lot of very feminist ladies who are all talking about how hard it is to raise daughters without barbies and princesses. It seems young girls are overexposed to toys and images that impress upon us  body image ideals and behaviors that hold us back in a lot of ways.

One big reaction I have to this is the formative role that Disney princesses had in my own life. I grew up on Disney. I watched the Little Mermaid so many times that I was convinced I could become a mermaid. And while sometimes I'm disappointed my breasts don't fit perfectly into seashells, I feel like there are traits from Disney princesses that I think straight up made me a feminist.  Here are three Princesses that inspired me: 

The Little Mermaid: 
#1: Ariel made me STOKED about swimming. I pretty much became a butterflyer because I thought it was like being a mermaid which gave me a tough pair of guns. I used to beat boys in push up contests. BOOM! 

#2: She wanted more than to just be a trust-fund baby. She liked exploring and she wasn't afraid to courageously move beyond the world she knew. 

Beauty and the Beast: 

#1: Belle loves reading. I straight up read books because I wanted to be a smartie like Belle. 

#2: She didn't care what people thought of her. I'm still working on this one. 

#3: She loved her dad at lot. Love you, Pops! 

#4: She was willing to overlook appearances in favor of getting to know people before judging them (This is obviously a "problematic" component to her relationship with the beast because he's a little abusive at first... ). 

Mulan: 

#1 Mulan is tough. And apparently, I was also into push-up contests.  So WIN! I really liked being as good as the boys at sports. 

#2 Feels connected to issues of social justice and wanted to participate. I guess you could say Mulan is the reason I founded an Amnesty International Chapter at my high school. She would totally be a member of Pussy Riot. 

Shout out in the comments if you think I missed out on any stand-out animated feministas!

Miley Cyrus = Agency in the Patriarchy?

Let’s face it. The world favors healthy white upper middle class MEN. So, sometimes, being a young woman can be hard work. I am, frankly, pretty exhausted. I've been busting my badonkadonk since I was 12 years old but all that hard work doesn't necessarily translate into $$$. 

I feel like that other X chromosome is really weighing me down professionally these days. For women like Miley Cyrus, however, she does a lot of heavy lifting (and licking?) to prevent the world from "wrecking" her.

 Oppression and agency are not necessarily mutually exclusive just like being a virgin or a whore is not mutually exclusive.  Sure, it would be great if Miley could have followed a "nobler" path toward success but it's still pretty awesome to see some female millionaires who can help inspire other young women to close the gap on income inequality.

After I saw a Facebook post from Miss Representation about how Ruthie from 7th Heaven posed for Maxim, I realized that many female child actors who start out as little girls have trouble redefining their careers as they age out of being children. It's strange to me that sexuality is how women establish themselves as adults. I mean Justin Timberlake didn't have to pretend to perform oral sex on stage to be considered an adult.

Unfortunately for Miley, as I'm sure her business manager is aware, merely writing a meaningful song wouldn't be enough to disassociate herself from her pink and purple days of Hannah Montana. She would have to follow in the footsteps of other women before her like Madonna, Britney, and Christina Aguilera. Those are powerful and successful business women.

Miley Cyrus has actually publicly stated that she is a feminist. As much as she's a woman we all love to hate,  maybe, just maybe, she's not the scum of the earth. Seriously, ladies, why can't we all just be friends? 

In the comments below, let me know how being a woman affects or doesn't affect your professional life. What would you do if you were Miley? How do you find agency in your own life when it seems unfair? How do you react to Miley's sexual writhing in the Wrecking Ball?