My response is up!

No, I don’t think giving little girls fairy tales is going to send them into a spiral of self-hate, but one hopes that along with the fairy tales, they are given plenty of other things to read as well.

Look here for the entire response.

Pff, Fairy Tales are not the main cause for young women's self-image problems. Those start with the parents. I read Grimm's fairy tales when I was a child. I remember several of the heroines surviving their ordeals because the used their wits rather than their good looks.
I think the concentration needs to move from Fairy tales and on to media and parenting. Positive reinforcement can help defeat most media related ills. More on my page.

This is my hometown! Maybe I'll write a prof or two and see what they think...

A very long and somewhat unexpected rant on fairy tales has cropped up on my blog, found here. In it I disagree with the assertion that they are harmless and talk at length about both Shrek and The Little Mermaid.

here are my thoughts if anyone is bored. and hi! i'm new here. i've lurked around here for some time but for some reason never responded with my own thoughts.

I don't think that those stories should be thrown away. I don' t think that it will help b/c girls will have more images to see or stories to hear about how beautiful a girl was that it almost makes her powerful. Girls should be taught that they are powerful and able to take control of their own lifes. That is more important that changing the media, no matter how old it is, or out dated it seems. It is better to change how a person feels about themselves on the insides than change how the entire world is around them.

My respone is up here. Please don't equate Grimm with Disney!

Well, as I said in my post, I'm late in responding to this post on fairy tales because I've been writing one. My response is now up here

My take on the topic.

My response. Stories are a part of our culture, and while I don't think they shape the culture alone, they certainly contribute. The preponderance of fairy tales that show women as pretty and men as strong can't help but add to the subtle gender stereotyping we pass on to kids.

On a lighter note, you brought up some of my "issues" with certain Disney films. Grrrr.

My waffling on the subject is here. I might develop the points in the last paragraph one day (they deserve lengthier treatment than I can presently be bothered to give).