A White Woman's Thoughts on Black Princesses

2 years ago

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I remember reading once that African-American girls have higher self-esteem than white girls their age. This was some time ago and might not be true. But I wondered if it was because they DON'T have those helpless princesses to measure themselves against. I was so depressed years ago when I saw that first television special with a black Cinderella. I thought, "Oh great. Now put THAT on the black girls too."

It seems to me that black women get to be so much more alive than white women. I know I'm being stereotypical. I could name a half dozen black women who are every bit as timid and eager to please as I am. And a half dozen white women who could eat us all for breakfast and still be hungry.

But indulge my stereotype for a minute. I'd like to see white women being more like, oh say, Queen Latifah. I'd like to see all women being more like Queen Latifah. All that sexuality, warmth, strength, intelligence, all of it super-sized and confident. I can't name one large-sized white woman in the public sphere who exudes that kind of sexuality.

Mae West? She's been gone a long time. Bette Midler? She's not that big.

Queen Latifah's kind of largeness simply isn't available to white women. Our fairy tale aspiration is to be lovely in a placid sort of way, the thin, silent beauty, the nicey nice princess waiting to be whisked away by the prince. Try to imagine Queen Latifah waiting to be whisked away.

She is able to be sexual without being weak, to be outspoken with warmth and humor. Nobody would ever call her a bitch or their bitch. Couldn't we have a Queen Latifah doll? Is there any woman of any color who wouldn't rather her daughter be an African queen than an American princess?

It's a complicated issue. I agree with Mary that it's lovely to see black girls wearing tiaras as they wait to see the "The Princess and the Frog," starring Disney's first black princess. The romantic part of me wants to echo Donna's post in saying the more black princesses the better. As my 3-year-old niece has shown me, you cannot keep girls from loving those princess images. I loved them passionately. I wouldn't want any girl to be denied the wonder of fairy tales.

But the companies that sell us things don't have our best interests at heart. I'm not faulting them. That's not their business. Their business is creating desire for more things, and they do that by defining us with images they create.

The stakes are high in this discussion. New studies show black girls have even higher bulimia rates than white girls. And the poorer they are, the more desperate they are to starve themselves.

I fear that black people are being colonized all over again. Every time they make a step toward the mainstream, it seems as though they gain something and they lose something, often things they will never be able to replace. Maybe that's true for all of us. I don't have a solution, only sadness about the way things in life seem to work out.

Filed Under: Woman Up

Tagged: Bette Midler, black dolls, black girls, black princesses, BlackGirls, BlackPrincesses, bulemia, Christine Wicker, Disney, Mae West, Queen Latifah, The Frog and the Princess, TheFrogAndThePrincess, WomanUp

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