PRO-LIFE PRINCESSES UNITE IN DEFENSE OF CINDERELLA!
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by Deanna Falchook
In defense of Cinderella…
In the past several years, Cinderella has been accused of having a complex. She has been laughed at and belittled for her beauty. She has withstood it all with dignity, poise, grace and silence. It’s obvious her forbearing nature has been misinterpreted as weakness.
In defense of Cinderella…
Her luxurious gown, perfect hair, sparkles and crown can give off the impression that she is a one-dimensional princess, like the cut-out paper dolls or stickers you buy for your daughters at the stores outside the theme park. But she is more…..
It’s time to defend Cinderella.
This week a temporary tweet resounded more like F16 Fighting Falcons on a fairytale attack waking up sleeping princesses everywhere. A sound barrier was broken, blasting out distress signals and alarming armies of princesses from their beauty sleep. This sleeping beauty wake-up call is activating a sleeping giant, making it clear princesses always ends up victorious over the schemes of conspiring enemies.
Shortly after releasing my story “I Was a Disney Princess and Had an Abortion,” in response to Planned Parenthood’s tweet “We need a Disney Princess who’s had an abortion,…,” I have witnessed a movement of pro-life princesses rising. These women are tired of princess references being slung around like curse words aimed at beauty pageant contestants, housewives, and stay-at-home moms with the intent to belittle and imply weakness. For the record, we don’t see the current Disney princesses as needing improvement. The term “princess” is a badge of honor, not a curse. This new pro-life princess movement is composed of women who know their princesses well. In hearing their deep and inspiring stories, I am convinced many of us are experts in the area of Cinderella and Disney princesses in general.
How? Why? Because…
We were also the “once upon a time” little girls who told ourselves we would rise from the ashes. We have endured and survived as victorious women with the help of a story that told us we would one day find our way to glisten and sparkle after being burned. We held onto our identities as over-comers even in the midst of contradictory messaging from the evil stepmother that renamed us from Ella to Cinderella (dirty girl in the cinders). We continued to persevere through spells attempting to wipe our memories that shout we are beautiful, powerful, strong and predestined for greatness. We listened to the sharp tones of condescending laughter and tormenting disgust as we cleaned up their messes and tended to the fires at the hearth. We worked in the kitchen for our stepsister captors who mocked us and made sure we knew not to step out of line…or else. We remained silent, with the exception of our singing praises to our King as we looked to the heavens knowing and believing in His power and promise for our own coronation day where we would stand next to Him.
We know Cinderella well.
We know she stands in her beauty because she has been refined through battle scars of personal tragedies, grief, abandonment, oppression, and suffering through fire. Her story is for trafficking victims, orphans, abused and violated children and others. Her story is for all of us who need to believe in the promise of something better, in a place higher than where we were. Though we were victimized, we stand strongly as survivors in our sparkles and glitter as grown women ready to defend Cinderella, because defending Cinderella means defending the evolving stories of the baby princesses we are raising. We are not victims. We are victorious. Little cinder girls who can rise above the stepsister name-calling and berating to claim their seat as powerful women on a throne in an elaborate castle.
We don’t see Cinderella as weak. She is an enduring representation of true female strength.
Cinderella labored and birthed her rise and ascent. For all her glitter and gold dust, there were ashes and burns first. She didn’t yield to their injuries and torture; she rose up to claim her right to a royal invitation. She battled for her moment on the dance floor. The noble prince then came to free her from the women who relentlessly conjured up ways to hold her back from standing tall as the future Queen.
Supernatural favor was on her side and she KNEW she was destined to rule. But the process was essential to her narrative. A princess story that cuts off and minimizes the beautiful but painful process of laboring through the unexpected and unplanned circumstances of life will never fulfill the requirement of legacy stories that shape our children into powerhouses. Diamonds shine and gleam because of intense pressure of heat and fire, and Cinderella didn’t become sparkly from cutting off her destiny. She actively chose refinement by fire and received her reward through a birthing process of her own.
We need Cinderella because when little girls come out of the grips of their abusers or get away from the dark and dusty rooms of secrets, they need to know about a princess just like them who now stands glittery and shiny in her gown and crown in a castle near the sun. They need to know about princesses who escaped life in the ashes, facing the tragic surprises in their lives and turning them into something miraculous.
You cannot rewrite a story that is the story of our souls. And you can’t replace or inject a narrative that disavows the growth of all the powerful leaders. Great character and leadership is born in all its fullness through a process of labor, struggle and adventure that propels into the happily ever after.
In defense of Cinderella…
She is more than a sticker, paper doll, mug, T-shirt or autograph book cover. Cinderella is a superhero and warrior princess. Cinderella stands in multi-dimensional beauty before you everyday and remains the jaw-dropping majestic masterpiece on Main Street. She will not be outdone. She will not be glossed over by the filtering eyes of stepsisters who have always been secretly terrified of her innate power. She can’t be improved upon. Her sparkles, glitter, crown and pretty hair are not to be misinterpreted as weakness. She won’t be dethroned.
