The Other F Word.

I was reading something the other day that was talking about how the Twilight series & Disney Princess stories create unrealistic expectations for little girls, and how they're misogynist because the princesses just passively wait for the prince to rescue them. And although it is hypocritical of me to judge someone else for over-analyzing the trivial, I thought "Oh, come on! Really?"

Hello, it's a fairytale. There's nothing wrong with fantasy.

I mean, who doesn't want to be rescued? If you were Cinderella and an absurdly wealthy, handsome bloke turned up and fell in love with your soot-streaked face, would you give a second thought to feminine solidarity with those bitchy stepsisters of yours and say "No thanks, I'll rescue myself. I depend on no man!" Of course not, you'd say "Take me to your castle, handsome!" It doesn't mean that you then expect this is how real relationships function.

However, I must recognize that I can take that point of view because I have other options. I can work. I can choose my own career. I chose my husband for myself (okay, we chose each other but you know what I mean). I'm not one of those women who wrinkles their nose prettily and says "Ooh, no, I'm not a feminist!" like it was the other F word (yeah, I knew you were wondering what the post title was on about). Actually I can't understand how it came about that it's considered a bad thing to say you're a feminist - by some women. Are they afraid the boys won't like them? "Thinking gives you wrinkles!"

...Sorry, this post is kind of going in six different directions at once. And here's another one. Since I've decided that fairytales are perfectly acceptable when we accept them as fantasies, wouldn't it be nice to see a fairytale in which the woman rescues the man from his wicked stepmother / life of drudgery / lack of hairdresser / centuries-long coma? Or would the gender reversal require a different type of "rescue"?

Your thoughts in the comments, please and thank you!