Fairy Tales And Gender Stereotypes Essay

Fairy Tales and Gender Stereotypes A stereotype is described as “A radically reductive way of representing whole communities of people by identifying them with a few key characteristics. Individuals from the group who [do not] fit that stereotype are then said to be atypical (Veselá, 2014).” When children are growing up they already realize the differences between their genders. When people grow up with fairy tales, young children do not think about all the stereotypes that are put in movies and books. Women are seen as the mother, the submissive wife, the old maid, the castrating women, the pioneer woman, the victim, and the slave (Moula, 2014). According to Peksen, children learn their gender roles from text-books, the media, their parents, …show more content…
These include, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. The words that were used for female gender stereotypes included things, such as submissive, homemaker, weak, evil, jealously, timid, sensitive, and attractive. The words used for male gender stereotypes include dominant, handsome, strong, aggressive, independent, brave, active, and achievement. “When it comes to female gender stereotypes, there is mainly an excess of women portrayed as magical (15%), homemakers (12%), and sensitive (11%). For male gender stereotypes the most prevalent traits are insensitivity (15%), bravery (13%), and sensitivity (12%) (Brancato, 2011).” These results conclude that women are normally homemakers while the men are insensitive (Brancato, …show more content…
These fairy tales reinforce dominant ideals of femininity. Princesses always need to look pretty and that they are submissive and weak (Boesveld, 2014). When children go through the princess phase, parents should be firm. Parents should be able to say no to their children. An effective way to make sure that boys and girls are exposed the correct way is to have more positive female models rather than negative models (Media Smarts, 2014). Many parents fear that a child’s mind may become overfed by fairy-tale fantasies. By this the children might become departed from society and not grow up properly (Bettelheim, N.d). The wonderful tales of fairy tales are the stories of the lovely princess where a brave prince comes and they live happily ever after. According to Ortiz, some feminine characters’ features include fear, emotional instability, dependence, tenderness, and lack of control. Some of the masculine characters’ features include emotional stability, aggressiveness, intellectual capacities, sincerity, and braveness (Ortiz, 2012). Overall, Disney has popularized and affected a mass amount of children in our culture. “Cinderella, the Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White are mythic figures who have replaced the old Greek and Norse gods, goddesses, and heroes for most children (Haase, 2004, pg.