Are Disney Princesses Damaging Our Daughters’ Ideas of Women?

According to photographer Jaime C Moore, yes. The Texan photographer embarked on a very interesting project with her 5 year old daughter. She wanted to do a creative photoshoot with Emma, but at the same time tackle the issue that was bugging her about the notion of Disney Princesses.

Why do girls grow up with all the Disney Princesses at front and center when it comes to looking for female role models? They aren’t even real people. Jaime decided to dress up her daughter imitating real life female heroes and pioneers throughout history and share it online so that other parents can see there are other people that our daughters need to know about from a very early age.

“I noticed quite a pattern of so many young girls dressing up as beautiful Disney Princesses, no matter where I looked 95% of the “ideas” were the “How to’s” of  how to dress your little girl like a Disney Princess…It started me thinking about all the REAL women for my daughter to know about and look up too, REAL women who without ever meeting Emma have changed her life for the better.”

“My daughter wasn’t born into royalty, but she was born into a country where she can now vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, or even President if she wants and that’s what REALLY matters. I wanted her to know the value of these amazing women who had gone against everything so she can now have everything. We chose 5 women (five amazing and strong women), as it was her 5th birthday but there are thousands of unbelievable women (and girls) who have beat the odds and fought (and still fight) for their equal rights all over the world.”

What a great mom Jaime is! There is so much ‘noise’ out there in media and entertainment it gets harder and harder to wade through it all to find the substantial content that has meaning. It takes mothers, decision makers, leaders and people of influence to show their communities when something is not right and share something meaningful.

Some of the great feedback she has received doesn’t just come from females. Ted Sander commented on the F Stop Lounge photography website who also posted about Jaime’s project, saying “I hope this turns into a trend. Always have worried about the princess ideal. Real women can take care of themselves.”

Mercedes Corujo commented on the post also, saying “I love it! Rather than raising little girls to feel like entitled princesses, make them look up to- and eventually become- like real women who shaped their world! This is beautiful.”

Here are the pictures of Jaime’s daughter which were posted on her website. They include amazing female role models throughout history such as Susan B Anthony, Coco Chanel, and Amelia Earhart.

Here’s a picture of Emma without the dress-ups, with Jaimie’s quote underneath saying “Let’s set aside the Barbie Dolls and the Disney Princesses for just a moment, and let’s show our girls the REAL women they can be.”