Disney Princesses Kick Butt

I am a feminist...kind of.  If you define feminism as believing that men and women should be treated with equal respect and dignity, and that women have been repressed by men for far too long, then I am a feminist.  If you define it as bra burning, career obsessed, anti-motherhood, then no, I'm not.

A lot of my fellow feminists seem to have a big problem with Disney princesses.  They say that they teach little girls that they need a man to rescue them and make their lives complete.  Some of the early ones, sure.  Snow White is a little dumb (doesn't everyone learn not to take food from strangers?  Especially creepy old hag ladies?), Cinderella talked to animals...weird; and Sleeping Beauty, well, slept through most of her story.  I don't really see how that argument holds up for the rest of them though.  Let's take this in chronological order.

Ariel:  She and Prince Eric worked together to kill Ursala.  With out her warnings and underwater  fighting skills, or his sailing chops, they both would have been toast.

Belle:  She is TOTALLY my favorite one.  She doesn't need a man...she is smart, independent and brave.  She first saved her father from a life of inprisionment, with no thought of her own freedom.  She could see through both Gaston's good looks to his egotism, and the Beast's ugliness and ferociousness to his good heart.  Then she is the one who fought off the wolves in the forest and hauled the Beast's heavy body back to the castle.  When the villagers attacked the castle, she tried to stop them, and even after she got locked up, she kept trying until she made it out to warn them.  She saved the Beast on that roof-top and kept him from falling.  Most importantly, though, her love saved him.  

Jasmine:  First of all, she is the royal one in this story, not her man.  Second, she fought Jafar just as hard as Aladdin did.  She speaks her mind, and obviously isn't afraid to put herself in danger.  She stood up for the poor boy in the market place who was trying to get something to eat.

Pocahontas:  Again, she is the royal one in this story.  And once again, she is the one who saves John Smith, not the other way around.  She stood up to her father, who also happened to be her chief, in order to save John's life.  It takes a lot of courage to go against cultural norms like that.  Then she sacrificed him in order to serve the greater good.

Mulan:  Hello, she killed the whole Hun army!  And saved her boyfriend, and the emperor of China, and the Chinese army.  She was super smart and figured out how to use brains over brawn, and ended up being a more valuable soldier than any of the men she worked with.

Tiana:  She is perhaps the hardest working of any of the princesses.  And, again she saved the prince, in more ways than one.  With out Tiana, Prince Navine would never have made it out of the swam alive; he also would never have become a useful human being.

Rapunzel:  This girl can wield a frying pan!  She was willing to sacrifice her freedom to save Flynn's life.  That is pretty awesome if you ask me.

I don't see anything in these stories that would teach a girl to be co dependant, or that would teach her you have to have a man to get by in the world.  All of these characters are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.  They chose to include a man in their lives, and to let them take care of her every once in a while.  The princess rescues the prince just as often (if not more so) as he rescues her.  Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?