Another Damsel in Distress? (Powerful women of the year 2014)

I know that many of us especially young women have been raised on the beautiful and romantic stories from Disney that always begin with a beautiful but tragic female character being imprisoned, treated badly by a vicious step mother or somehow being trapped by her cruel circumstances.

All of these women possess amazing character qualities as well as beauty, so as to make their supposed entrapment seem so unjust and unfair. As she is helpless all she can do is await a prince to come to save her. Her life is suspended as she lives in a tower, or lies in a deep sleep, is mistreated by a mean step mother and she is always unable to rescue herself. 

Cinderella, the sleeping beauty Snow white, Rapunzel with the long hair, the little mermaid Ariel, Jasmine, and Pochohantas all of them can only be saved by one thing, marrying the prince or the male hero in their story and then becoming the princess they were always meant to be. Belle even goes so far as to fall in love with a beast and try to change him with love.

Well I am here to dismiss this untruth for you - these stories are false and have entrapped so many other beautiful and amazing young women of this generation from reaching their full potential, as they suspend their lives trying to stay beautiful and awaiting their prince hero to arrive and rescue them from their circumstances. I want to scream “Wake up sleeping beauty, climb down your own hair Rapunzel, Belle the beast can only treat you badly if you allow him to and Ariel be who you were called to be and stop trying to be someone or something else!”.  

The truth of it all is that Disney created these magical stories from the true origins that are sometimes quite horrific tales of a more realistic nature.  We must teach our daughters that in the real world there is no fairy dust or glass slipper and that we must remove ourselves from people that have evil intentions towards us. There is nothing enlightening about suffering while you wait to be rescued. Not to mention the pressure we have placed on our young men to be a knight in shining armor that is looking for a helpless woman to rescue. Men of today have respect and admiration for strong women that are loving and capable of taking care of themselves.

And yes there are happy endings but they don’t always look like a Disney fairy tale. Sometimes the female character does not get married and instead is the CEO of a large corporation, she does and can live happily ever after if she has encountered her true self and purpose. Or maybe she looks like mother Teresa who lived a life of servant hood and rescued others in rescuing herself. She might be the single mother that is truly a hero for taking the responsibility that was too much for the prince that ran away from it all. What ever her life is she must be responsible for her true happiness and not give the responsibility away to another.

Here are a few links to share the origin and to dispel the myths that we have come to believe via our journey with Disney for the past 8 decades.

http://listverse.com/2013/02/13/10-disney-movies-with-horrific-origins/

http://www.policymic.com/articles/45409/5-shocking-origins-of-disney-classics

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adamellis/super-dark-origins-behind-your-favorite-disney-movies

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/the-real-story-behind-eve_n_4239730.html

Charmaine 

She Loves Her High Heels

As a young girl a strange phenomena called puberty caused me to be tall at a young age and relatively beautiful as well. With these two features I stood out among the crowd, in school, at home, in photos and especially around the boys. So imagine when I decided it was time for me to begin to wear high heels.  This caused me to stand out even more as people cranked their necks to look up at me and many times I had to slouch down to make people feel more comfortable.

Soon I no longer felt comfortable wearing heels and made a conscious decision and choice to wear flats instead. But I never forgot the feeling I got when I would dress up and slip my feet into a pair of fancy high heels. I felt tall, beautiful, regal, sexy and female.

Just recently after going through a midlife change I reclaimed my identity again and one of the changes that came forth was that I decided I was no longer going to let my height in heels and how it may or may not make others feel stop me from dawning my favourite pair of stilettos, platforms, wedges or pumps. So I went shopping!

I was created tall and my shrinking to be small does not serve the world well. I plan to stand up straight in my high heels and throw my head back and walk proud. Cause I love my high heels!

She Loves Her High Heels

They lift her up to a place of height that match her inner depth

Heels that go clickety- clack as they walk on the hard floors of life, yet keeping time and step

Many think of strength like Superman, the man of strength and steel

But nothing is as powerful as a woman walking tall… in a shiny, red bottom pump with silver heel

In her identity finding beauty, comfort and value no matter what her size, is the measure of her life

Always in motion moving from a daughter to a woman, from a sister to a mother, from a friend to a wife

Her heels speak of the long journey she has walked always proud of her feminine side

Never wanting to lose her true self in the struggle to maintain her confident womanly pride

The platforms they create lift her up to a status that is far above the ground

Her heels agree with her that no matter what the situation, she will not be brought down

She has mastered the difficulty of walking in balance, head held high as her feet are turning

Walking into homes, places of business, entertainment, social engagements and educational buildings of learning

Its not the cost of the shoe, the designer we knew, the color or material we choose

Its about the way that she feels, so strong, confident and real, so beautiful as she glides in her high heels

But at the end of the day there is an awesome picture in view, so special and so grand

A woman laughing as she takes off her heels, running barefoot through a flower field, holding her high heels in her hands

Charmaine Hinds