The Potential of Princesses

At the recent From Princess to President: Today’s Girls, Tomorrow’s Leaders event in Washington, D.C, panel speakers discussed the ill effects of princess mythology on girls. The problem isn’t with the mythology itself, the panelists said; the problem is that it is the only ideal being aggressively marketed to young girls. Princess mythology has infected every aspect of television programming and products for girls, and at the event author Peggy Orenstein noted that the lack of female heroines in current culture creates a one-dimensional view that is limiting to girls’ ideas of themselves.

But what is more concerning to me — and was only addressed briefly — is the lack of cultural and ethnic diversity in the princess mythology.

Growing up, I had two examples of royalty: The first was the character Scheherazade from 1,001 Nights (also known as the Arabian Nights), who saved her own life by keeping a tyrannical king entranced for 1,001 nights with her gift of storytelling. The king, known for murdering his queens, spared Scheherazade’s life and fell in love with her. Interestingly, the Disney movie Aladdin comes from one of the stories in that collection of tales, and Princess Jasmine is featured in the Disney Princess marketing (although not as prominently as Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty).

The second example of royalty was the group of women who were around me: my mama, cousins, aunts, and other women in our community, who were often referred to as “queens.” This was not a way to demean them or suggest that they were weak; the women who carried this title were smart, witty, involved in the community, and were often sought out by younger women for advice and guidance. They were called queens as a way to acknowledge their work within the community and the manner in which they carried themselves. Being called a princess when your mama was looked at in this manner was akin to being called an apprentice.

As I grew older, I found out about other real-life royalty around the world. Queen Rania al-Abdullah of Jordan, a Kuwaiti refugee who fled with her family to Jordan, met and married King Abdullah and has used her position to advocate for women’s and children’s rights in the Arab world. In addition to Queen Rania, we can also look to black princesses around the world, who get little to no attention in the media and are also redefining modern-day royalty.

These examples show that the princess model doesn’t have to be limiting or harmful to young girls, that there is more than one type of princess, and that princesses eventually turn into queens who have the power to lead and change the world.

While the princess ideal may be harmful in many ways, there are examples of queens and princesses all over the world who are not passive role models for young girls. Marketers and parents should use the princess model as a way to encourage girls to seek leadership and build confidence in their own abilities.

This post was written by Leadership Programs Intern Donnae Wahl.