Brief (but Inevitable) Rant About Gender Roles in Disney

Before I say anything I really need to preface this post with a few notes. First, I am by no means a gender studies scholar, nor do I intend on making any academic claims. I've only ever taken one women's studies course. All of what I say is just my observation. My tenancy to notice these things has everything to do with the strong, intelligent, outspoken women with whom I tend to surround my self. Second, I love Disney. And I love princesses. I still do want to be a princess when I grow up. I often spend my time at work wishing I either had a little girl to buy every single princess dress for or that they made them in my size. Lastly, I like other things too, like playing sports. Generally I love doing anything that involves excessive amounts of dirt or mud. Mud is a much less glamorous accessory then say... a tiara, but will complete an outfit just the same.

So yesterday I was in Team Mickey, the sports themed store in Downtown Disney. They sell ESPN gear as well as professional and college team merchandise, most of which is Disneyed up a little bit. I stopped for a minute to think about what they had for women. There was some cute v-neck t-shirts which I'm all for. And there was this ugly t-shirt that said something along the lines of "Yeah I'm a women. Yeah I know football. Yeah I dress like a an 8-year-old on her way to soccer practice." in a glittery, feminine font. Apparel-wise that was it. There were of course the typical Disney souvenirs as well like bobble head figurines, key chains, the works. Most of which depict the male Disney characters playing various sports. No Minne. No Daisy. No princesses. I don't think sends the right message to aspiring princesses/professional soccer players, such as an 8-year-old version of myself. In addition, there are definitely men that look much better than me in "women's" v-neck shirts.

So today I was stock trained at the Emporium. It was a really long day where I was shown where everything is stored in our 6 different stock rooms. That is not an exaggeration. There are six stock rooms and I will never remember where anything is. All of the children's merchandise is categorized both in our stock system and on our floor as either girls or boys. The Star Wars figurines and the blue Crocs are in the room labled "Boys" while the jewelry and pink Croc's are in the room labled "Girls." I just don't understand what it would hurt to take these labels off what is ultimately just children's merchandise. Those labels that end up defining what gender is supposed to be can alienate children (and people in general) that do not fit into the binary that Disney uses to define gender. Based on what I grew up believing and what I've been told by this company, Disney is in no way about alienating people. It is about creativity and imagination, part of which is encouraging individuality. So why can't a girl dress up as Buzz Lightyear instead of Cinderella and a boy collect princess pins instead of Cars pins? I really just think everyone would be better off.

So in conclusion, Disney merchandise severely under-represents Mulan. She's the most kick-ass princess of them all.