Feminist Females
Last year, I said in my Beauty and the Beast essay “Bride and Prejudice” that I am a feminist who believes in gender equality, and because of my beliefs, I strongly dislike men who display toxic masculinity. By that, I mean men who discriminate women by abusing them, mocking them, thinking that they are meant to be men’s slaves or only have jobs pertaining to housekeeping or cooking, and believe that men are the superior gender while women will always be inferior to men. And also because of my beliefs, I absolutely hate Gaston since he is the exact epitome of the very kind of man I detest, what with him having all of these said sexist, misogynistic views about women. He believes men are and always will be inherently superior to women and that women are meant to be controlled by men. Therefore, he dislikes women being above or equal to men in any way, particularly with being smart or independent.
So while I think Gaston is the prime example of the worst kind of man, I simultaneously love Belle and think she is one of the best heroines and feminist icons in Disney animation due to her having an intelligent, independent, witty, bibliophilic, rebellious, and free-spirited nature in a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard. She openly challenges society’s expectations of a woman of her time by choosing who she wants to be, not caring what people think about her, and refusing to be controlled, demeaned, or humiliated, especially by prejudiced men like Gaston.
And I have been thinking more about since then that I have decided to write this essay on which Disney heroines, both princesses and non-princesses, are feministic. This may be my biggest writing project ever for Disney, so sit back and enjoy as you read! 😁
Women in History
As I stated above, I am a feminist because I believe that both genders should be treated as equals, rather than perceiving one as superior to the other. Although sexism and such discrimination has been against both genders, and still is today, my main advocacy of it is for women since I’m a woman and I’m eager to stop discrimination and stereotypes against women, including in the media.
For centuries, mostly in European countries and during colonial America, society has regarded women as inferior to men. While men had a lot of freedom, women lived and were expected to follow strict gender roles set for them, so they had virtually none of the same privileges as men. Men had the freedom to go almost anywhere, do almost anything, and be almost whatever they wanted, but women did not. Men could wear shirts and pants since such clothes were considered masculine, but women could only wear dresses, skirts, and stockings since they were expected to be ladylike in all ways, including with their clothing. While it may not have always been considered a big deal for men to get married, it was expected for women to do it, perhaps because they are the gender that carries and bears children. Men were educated and had careers, but women were expected to stay home, keep house, and raise children. It was also frowned upon and considered improper if women were more interested in things that were stereotyped for men as opposed to things stereotyped for their gender.
Since many Disney animated films are period pieces, a lot of the early ones had their heroines portrayed as conventional women of the times, though without very much proper character development that showed them living very restricted lives. However, such portrayals began to change with the portrayal of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, but more specifically so with Belle in Beauty and the Beast in regards to feminism. Belle was arguably the first Disney heroine, and not just the first Disney Princess, to be portrayed as a feminist due to her being a very independent, intelligent, bold, outspoken, free-thinking woman who stands up to and rejects the unwanted advances of the sexist, misogynistic villain Gaston. She subsequently became an icon for feminism in Disney animation, and many of her successors have followed suit, especially over the last decade, including Jasmine, Mulan, Elsa, and Moana. After watching their films over again, I have figured out which Disney heroines best represent feminism based on the following criteria I have created regarding their personality traits and actions:
- Live in times where men had great eminence in society, bigotry against women was standard, and women were regarded as inferior to men instead of their equals
- Defy what is expected of them by not acting like stereotypical women or princesses, which includes doing things or having interests more commonly associated with men, making them literal “women in a man’s world”
- Incredibly independent with strong desires to do as much themselves with little to no assistance or protection (particularly from men)
- Speak their minds, stand up for themselves, or rebel against others (especially men) without fear and refuse to be silenced
- Possess great skills and competency in martial arts and/or weaponry
- Has absolutely no love interest, shows an initial or complete disinterest in romance or men, or chooses a different fate despite falling in love
Now that I have listed what I think makes Disney heroines feminists, I want to discuss which heroines are best represented as feminists based on this criteria. I have picked heroines that I think are most obvious feminists by have strong personalities or abilities that fit most to all of the criteria, and a couple others that I designated as honorable mentions because they fit most of the criteria, but also contrast some of it or don’t project strong, feministic-type traits as much as the others do. Of course, these are all just my honest opinions with which some of you may not agree, so I feel there is no solid right or wrong answer.
I am only focusing on human female characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and my choices are the Disney Princesses and non-monarchs. That means no animal characters, whether they are anthropomorphic or non-anthropomorphic, and no characters from the sequels made by DisneyToon Studios will be included. Now even though Merida is from Pixar, I am including her because she is a Disney Princess, and a very feministic one. I am also not ranking the heroines based on who I think is most to least feministic, but by the order of which came first in the years their films came out.
