Written by: Celia Selzner 

Edited by: Laurence Desjardins

Introduction

From damsels in distress to evil witches, female stereotypes in favor of a patriarchal social order have long been prevalent in children’s media. In recent years, gender has become increasingly conceived as a social construct, meaning “an idea that has been created and accepted by people in society” rather than an intrinsic, biological characteristic. Upon accepting this perspective of gender, sociologists often turn to analyzing how gender is taught, primarily through our interactions with others, but also through the media we consume. This article aims to use socialization theory as a framework to explain how childhood fairy tales can act as an early imposition of gender norms on children, as well as the consequences of these unrealistic standards on young girls’ mental health. 

Socialization Theory

Socialization theory is a way of understanding how humans become functioning members of society. Robin DiAngelo defines this theory as “the process of being trained into our culture; learning the norms, meanings and practices that enable us to make sense of the world and behave appropriately in a given culture.” Although socialization is considered a lifelong process, a bulk of the work is done in childhood, where we learn basic social codes surrounding polite interaction, behaviour, hygiene, and more. Yet alongside these lessons on etiquette are more concealed messages regarding gender roles and norms. T.R Schaffler explains that the root of socialization draws from our “general web of community organization and group interaction and interpretation.” In particular, he places emphasis on the “interpretation” aspect, and the manner in which “the socialee interprets one experience as good and another as bad.” Essentially, humans interact with the world, then internalize an opinion based on the experience, which inevitably results in some degree of emotional development. For adults, this process is extremely subtle, as they already possess a wide range of experiences throughout the years, making them less susceptible to change from an isolated incident. Children, however, are much more sensitive to the process. With a limited reference for the world, most interactions carry a much greater influence, and serve as a foundation for interactions for the rest of their lives.

How Fairy Tales Socialize

Fairy tales act as moral guidelines, providing a “correct” interpretation through which children come to internalize cultural subjective values of society as indisputable facts. Jerilyn Fisher and Ellen S. Silber note that “fairy tales exert a noticeable influence on cultural ideals of goodness, images of evil, models of manhood and womanhood, and fantasies about ‘true love,’” instilling ideals and virtues to aspire towards. As they cater to young children, most fairy tales present a clear divide between good and evil, pushing characters to hyperbolic or stereotypical extremes in order to highlight the moral of the tale. However, many fairy tales – particularly the older ones, such as Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty – present themes and characters embedded with patriarchal values. Consequently, these tales reinforce antiquated gender roles and norms in the socialization process of young children. 

Gender Lessons in Cinderella

Ideals surrounding feminine beauty pervade many of Disney’s earliest animated movies. This idea is particularly prevalent in the Cinderella film, first released in February 15th, 1950. According to Sheila Ruzycki O’Brien’s analysis of the 1950s movie, the animated art style is used to exaggerate the features of certain characters, in an effort to turn them into laughable caricatures. O’Brien describes how the bodies of Cinderella’s evil step sisters are given “big feet, bulbous noses, large quantities of various body hair, and enormous behinds,” physical characteristics often considered to be undesirable among mainstream feminine beauty ideals. By assigning these characteristics to the antagonists, the movie reinforces the sisters’ “sexuality [as being] overly physical, deviant, and transgressive,” something wicked to be avoided rather than simply a neutral facet of their character. They are designed to draw mockery from the audience, acting as an example of undesirable traits to avoid lest the viewer become a social outcast. It builds an association between the archetype of the bad, immoral villainess and a hideous or deformed appearance. In contrast, the titular protagonist Cinderella is meant to embody “the good woman.” By “minimizing her extremities,” Cinderella is critically positioned in juxtaposition to the other exaggerated, villainous women in her family. Rather than being made into a target for mockery like her sisters, Cinderella is elevated as the heroine of the story, worthy of admiration from her audience. As such, the physical attributes she embodies – thinness, pale skin, straight blond hair – become an embodiment of her superior morality. 

Consequences of Fairy Tale Socialization 

Media facilitates a constant exposure to unrealistic beauty ideals, allowing creators to portray a physique which takes an immense level of work and wealth to achieve. Maintaining a beauty routine, workout regime, and even healthy eating habits are a luxury in the modern world, requiring not only funds, but consistent free time to dedicate towards these tasks. Even then, it may still be unattainable, depending on a person’s physiology. However, a large part of the facade requires making the beauty appear natural or intrinsic, as acknowledging the effort it takes tends to diminish the value it possesses.

Although reality is limited by what can be feasibly accomplished by a human being, animation does not face the same limitation, allowing movies such as Cinderella to take a minor attribute – such as body hair – and twist it into something seemingly monstrous. Similarly, qualities deemed to be positive, such as thinness, are pushed to unrealistic dimensions through Cinderella herself. 

When taken to their furthest extreme, beauty standards can negatively impact a person’s mental and physical health. Body image has been proven in numerous psychological research to be negatively linked to mental health. With the media overwhelmingly portraying impossible standards for the average person while simultaneously making it appear natural and highly desirable, we come to internalize the pressure to conform to a certain appearance. Furthermore, since women are often valued and judged by their physical characteristics, their mental health is more heavily impacted when failing to achieve the ideal standard. Negative body image can often results in depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, and other harmful behaviours.

Fairy tales are not excluded from these processes of harmful socialization. In fact, the lessons embedded in their tales act as one of the earliest markers of gender norms for children. The overemphasis on and subjective valorization of particular body standards act as an early reference point to judge and criticize ourselves. Although a single movie cannot fully shape one’s worldview, repeated exposure to similar content will eventually affect the development of their mentality when approaching the subject of appearance. 

The earliest stages of socialization are done by providing children with a clear picture of what should or should not be done. In this regard, fairy tales act as a useful introduction to children on ideals to strive towards. However, many of these tales embody and reinforce strong patriarchal values, and thus serve to perpetuate a pressure to conform to a specific body type and personality traits, particularly enacted against women. These films are designed to be marketed towards young children, yet carry ideology on feminine beauty and morality without pausing to criticize the unrealistic standards. It creates a dangerous scenario in which harmful ideologies are perpetuated and normalized, inevitably setting the groundwork for self-esteem or mental health crises should young girls internalize such norms.