"Why do all the girls have to buy pink stuff?"

“Some girls like superheroes, some girls like princesses! Some boys like superheroes, some boys like princesses! So why do all the girls have to buy pink stuff and all the boys have to buy different color stuff?”

Serious questions from little Riley who seems quite exasperated looking for a toy that clearly isn’t a princess. Watch her and see for yourself.

Riley may want to change the world. And she may be quite right but the marketers that get paid (ie not Riley) are well aware that since the tiara first landed on the head of a golden haired heir to the throne, little girls have been obsessed with princesses . And then Disney came along and fed that obsession with steroids.  And even if Riley is upset about having to buy the pink one, the news isn’t all bad. Acclaimed author and feminist Naomia Wolf has come out in defence of the passion for princesses in an article published in the New York Times. She writes:

Should we worry, as feminist mothers, when feisty, willful daughters are obsessed with princesses? Hardly. The job description has changed. Princesses these days are not ladies who lunch. Today’s princesses are visibly juggling a lot of balls, just like the rest of us working wives and single or married mothers. Perhaps reflexive disapproval of princesses is a bit passé.

She goes on to say

….because more important than the “real” role of a princess is the archetypal, even Jungian role that “the princess” serves. After all, what are these Disney princesses doing? They are busy being the heroines of their own lives. In a scary face-off, Anastasia kills off the evil Rasputin — and saves Russia. Mulan, in drag, helps defeat the conquering Huns — also saving her family and her country. Belle releases her enslaved beloved from the curse of his enchantment. Don’t worry if your 5-year-old girl insists on a pink frilly princess dress. It doesn’t mean she wants to subside into froth; it just means, sensibly enough for her, that she wants to take over the world.

You can read the article in full here

So maybe if your daughter wants to play princesses she’s just planning a take-over. And maybe her brother should be encouraged to play the game too.

Were you a tulle obsessed princess player as a child? Do you, or would you, encourage princess play in your own children?