Opined: Fairies tale - Shattering the dreams
“Hansel & Gratel”, “Cinderella”, “Snow White & Seven Dwarfs”, and such fairy tales have surrounded us from our childhood and continue to do so. The entire idea of “being” good-will-ultimately-lead-you-to-your-prince-charming has been conceptualized and used by mothers, their daughters and daughters' daughters to make them live in a fantasy world; quite ironic to the real world – which goes by the law of ‘survival of fittest.’
The question, which our brain should have asked ages ago, “Why fairy tales end with prince charming?" Or "Why does a girl need to prove her worth for her suitor?" and other questions on marriage and chastity of girls.
I was surprised as how easily I came to an answer to this query of mine. Girls have to be chaste and good so that they are WORTHY of Mr Prince (by the way who decides what prince has to do or is doing is yet to be discovered). Following that notion - marriages are the ultimate Happy Endings – not because they are in love but, how can they consummate their love or reproduce without a legal stamp from the society?
As every fairy tale flows and is followed, girls have to be dependent on male members of families to live “their” life. No one ever asks her about her wishes, dreams, or aims equivalent to many ongoing things happening in today’s world.
Have we ever stopped to read the stories carefully? In the vagueness of providing our children with bedtime moral stories, we are actually reinforcing the male-female dominance/stereotypes/importance. Hence, presently, if violence with women is on peak – then who is responsible for it?
-Nikita Dudani
The question, which our brain should have asked ages ago, “Why fairy tales end with prince charming?" Or "Why does a girl need to prove her worth for her suitor?" and other questions on marriage and chastity of girls.
I was surprised as how easily I came to an answer to this query of mine. Girls have to be chaste and good so that they are WORTHY of Mr Prince (by the way who decides what prince has to do or is doing is yet to be discovered). Following that notion - marriages are the ultimate Happy Endings – not because they are in love but, how can they consummate their love or reproduce without a legal stamp from the society?
As every fairy tale flows and is followed, girls have to be dependent on male members of families to live “their” life. No one ever asks her about her wishes, dreams, or aims equivalent to many ongoing things happening in today’s world.
Have we ever stopped to read the stories carefully? In the vagueness of providing our children with bedtime moral stories, we are actually reinforcing the male-female dominance/stereotypes/importance. Hence, presently, if violence with women is on peak – then who is responsible for it?
-Nikita Dudani
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