The fascination girls and women have with princesses and queens

I have noticed even in this post-feminist world girls still clamor for princesses.The appeal is usually the merchandise that comes with it and the fantasy that fufills every girls dreams.I know the Princess Classic came in only recently during the Victorian era but what is it that made girls go dreaming about the royal high life.Notice I put queen because not all queens are evil and because women want authority.

Is it just an excitement they have, or a genuine wish?

Because you get a shitton of money, pimped out clothes and guys line up to marry you. Who doesn't want that.

Er, that's for wanting to be a princess, that is. I'm assuming that's what this topic is about.

edited 2nd Aug '11 7:06:59 PM by melloncollie

Men don't dream of being rich as hell and not having to work for a living?

I mean given, most rich men do work for a living, and many of them have wives who don't do shit in the way of unemployment and are modern day princesses, maybe that's why men don't have a similar "Kings and princes" interest.

I always wanted respect and fame before riches. Riches are awesome, but I always grew up wanting to be respected for martial talents, rather than being rich and anonymous. Now that I'm older and wiser, I realize how kickass it would be to rich and absolutely unknown.

edited 2nd Aug '11 7:07:53 PM by Barkey

Switch guys to guys and girls and we're golden.

It's the basic human desire to be the special one. Everyone wants to be special, they want their life to be the one which others' revolves around, they want to be the center of attention, they want the best lovers, the best pleasures in life. And being a princess, at least in the popular imagination, provides all of that. Girls grow up reading about princesses, reading about how everyone falls over themselves trying to fulfill their every desire, they read about how they get the most attractive lovers, and well..

You do realize that they fantasize about royalty while rarely considering the responsibilities that come with being in a royal family, right? Even today when it's mostly ceremonial duties and not a lot of governmental responsibility, they always have to be on guard to behave correctly and not embarrass their families or their countries.

Anyway, they imagine being the fairytale type princess, who ends up marrying the hero of the story. IT's not about reality. It's about fantasizing being rich and in love and a dozen other things a person can associate with princesses.

Course, if we're talking about little girls, it's part of the usual kids playing pretend thing. Kids do that, and it's not unhealthy.

Personally, I blame Disney marketing. No more or less than that for the most part.

I don't know how many girls fantasize about being the center of attention, but I know at least some fantasize about being the person who makes the laws and dispenses justice.

There's the most random princesses in Adventure Time...

If your little girl want to be a Muscle Princess or an embryo (again) you really need to find better role modes.

edited 2nd Aug '11 10:09:29 PM by joeyjojo

^^ Disney didn't create the market. They just took full advantage of an existing one.

"I always wanted respect and fame before riches. "

I have to disagree on wanting fame over riches. I have a cousin that's slightly famous and sometimes she can't do anything without being chaperoned by the media and can't even answer phone calls from unknown numbers. Also the media will print lies and/or false information about you and your family.

Also do you want alleged nude pictures of you floating around on the web and referenced in media?

edited 3rd Aug '11 1:06:22 AM by mahel042

Because it's a misandrist world we're living in!

Boys don't get any sort of similar role model. The best boys can hope for is becoming a grunt in the army, ready to die with a gun in his hand on some foreign shore. Or they get some highly idealized version of the male physique pushed on them, an unobtainable physical standard, in the for of a superhero. Whose powers will never actually grant him any sort of power like the power a head of state or someone born of nobility posesses.

Girls like to be princesses because they've considered the socio-economic positions of these characters and they find them appealing because they yearn for the power that comes with the position. To have power, but no responsibilities.

in all seriousness:

Girls like princesses because they're pretty, and they get to wear beautiful dresses and jewelry. Princesses live in magical castles and they get to do whatever they wants because a princess gets away with everything.

Women like princesses because it reminds them of their youthful dreams and fantasies.

That's assuming they want to avoid embarrassing their families and countries. One of the perks of having a non-elected office is you can't be voted out for shirking your duties, and when your duties are all ceremonial no one cares enough to stage an uprising.

Sooner or later, some poor Romani parent is gonna have to say to their princess, but only via title that nobody, especially in France will respect, daughter possesses:

ROMA DAD: "Well, you ARE a princess, in the very real sense, the problem is that we escaped from the Russians with our titles alone and while we are royalty in our clan... we have no money to show for it."

ROMA DAUGHTER: "So I'm a princess, but we have no money apart from wages and hot French guys will hate me? Dangit!"

I once knew a man who was married to one of my Mum's friends who was in a similar situation. Castles can be sold for money they need, but titles? Certain men of substance hang onto those precisely to pick up chicks of an appropriate age once they hit forty.

Edited for emphasis on why this would occur.

edited 3rd Aug '11 3:54:46 AM by NewGeekPhilosopher

We don't live in a post-feminist world.

As always it's not all girls who have fantasies of being princeses, just a fairly big portion.

edited 3rd Aug '11 5:43:55 AM by Qeise

Thing is, no one has that level of universal respect. You're always gonna be fair game for someone.

Young boys want to become warriors because of the cool armor.

Young girls want to become princesses because of the pretty clothes.

Case closed.

Fuck the armor, we want to blow shit up.

@jazz: Maybe it's because we don't live in a post-feminist world?

(I notice kashchei already said this, but it's really worth saying.)

Because princesses are awesome.

Don't be hatin'.

-edit-
Serious answer, you say?

edited 3rd Aug '11 6:41:47 AM by AllanAssiduity

Mmm, but they built off of a different era's assumptions, hopes and dreams. Things that seem quaint and archaic now. If they hadn't been such a monolithic presence in American animation, would we still have this phenomenon?

Of course, I remember my sister, while we were growing up, talking about how she wanted to marry some rich guy so she'd never have to do anything. So maybe the concept would just have transmuted into 'I want to be a businessman/doctor/lawyer's wife' and otherwise remained the same.

Though come to think of it, that's not nearly as MARKETABLE as a romantic fantasy ideal....

And if Burke was right, we never will, so long as we have access to the idea of princesses. We'll look up with awe to kings; with affection to princesses, because when such ideas are brought before our minds, it is natural to be so affected.

I noticed no one's mentioned queens.I know they are not highly marketed as the princesses but come on queens have major authority,grace,and a will of steel.I mean you can look no further to history to see some great queens,Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria of England.I know some girls rather be queens because it is a more womanly and grown up role.You know Disney should start promoting more queens because they are underated.

Princesses are cute and great in all but Queens make history.