tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post8094278507712633006..comments2023-10-30T14:34:16.722-07:00Comments on Men Need Feminism: What Men Can Do Wednesday: Avoid Being the HeroJeff Pollethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-23103676708392669152008-08-31T23:40:00.000-07:002008-08-31T23:40:00.000-07:00The pictures are from an advertising campaign Disn...The pictures are from an advertising campaign Disney did a bit ago for their Year of a Million Dreams thing, done by Annie Leibovitz. You can read about it <A HREF="http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-01-25-disney-ad-campaign_x.htm" REL="nofollow">here</A>. <BR/><BR/>Yes, I am that huge of a Disney geek. <BR/><BR/>Also, I'm glad there are guys out there who recognise the whole White Knight thing for the farce that it is. I had a guy in one of my classes earlier in the year whose primary problem with women stemmed from the fact that they didn't want/need to be saved when that's how he understood masculinity and relationships - he grew up on videogames and comic books, not to say that either are intrinsically evil, but the entitlement complex he seemed to have derived from them was just terrifying. <BR/><BR/>It's funny because I grew up on Disney, but I never really got into the whole princess thing. Maybe it was just because the princess merchandising didn't become huge until I was way past their target age group, but it wasn't hard for my younger self to get that Peter Pan had way more fun than Wendy, and that princesses weren't good for much except singing and strutting around in high heels. I couldn't do either with any degree of grace, so - as they say - I did it my way. <BR/><BR/>And now the thought of White Knights just sets my teeth on edge. <BR/><BR/>I'm having a baby boy in another six to seven weeks, so these issues are weighing particularly on my mind now. I don't want to raise a White Knight! So I've been trying to collect children's media that subverts or otherwise upends traditional archetypes - <I>The Paper Bag Princess</I> and <I>Princess Smartypants</I> are my favourites so far!baby221https://www.blogger.com/profile/10728908487350684688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-73206135436743416302008-07-30T18:22:00.000-07:002008-07-30T18:22:00.000-07:00Thanks for responding. I did copy the image from y...Thanks for responding. I did copy the image from your site, but it appeared to be only a partial picture (because of the word cut off the right-hand side)<BR/><BR/>did searches last night for on white knight, knight on a horse, hero on a horse, white horse, dragonslayer... nothing...<BR/><BR/>found it today by searching for knight on a white horse, but still can't find who it belongs to...K-onnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01964834168362505418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-20004150546600367072008-07-30T07:43:00.000-07:002008-07-30T07:43:00.000-07:00curiousgeorge--I'm not sure where I found it. You ...curiousgeorge--<BR/><BR/>I'm not sure where I found it. You can grab it from this page. Right-click, save image...if you're on a windows box. Not sure how you do it on mac, but I'm sure it's doable. I imagine I got it from a google images search originally.Jeff Pollethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-48954769934186437032008-07-29T23:22:00.000-07:002008-07-29T23:22:00.000-07:00Hoping you can help...Wondering where you got the ...Hoping you can help...<BR/><BR/>Wondering where you got the picture of the knight on horse.<BR/><BR/>Did a bunch of searches and spent a couple of hours looking for it to no avail...<BR/><BR/>It looks perfect for something I want to send my brother...K-onnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01964834168362505418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-76384220469783410982007-12-31T07:49:00.000-08:002007-12-31T07:49:00.000-08:00Januaries--Thanks for stopping by and giving us so...Januaries--<BR/>Thanks for stopping by and giving us some more insight. Not only are there limited number of openings for princesses (and princes), who really wants the job once you see what it actually entails? :)Jeff Pollethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-9986768285639008702007-12-31T05:54:00.000-08:002007-12-31T05:54:00.000-08:00Hi, I just found your blog and have to say I like ...Hi, I just found your blog and have to say I like it very much.<BR/><BR/>What you call "the white knight syndrome" has long been one of my personal nightmares. <BR/><BR/>As a little girl, I could never bring myself to like Prince Charming. In <I>Snow White</I> I admired the wicked queen's cunning with the apple plot (not because she was evil, but because she had ideas), in <I>Sleeping Beauty</I> I adored the fairy godmothers, the same in <I>Cinderella</I>. I just couldn't understand why the main heroines weren't allowed to do things for themselves. I wished they could be as strong and inventive as the women with magical powers but without being evil. I shocked my deeply religious grandmother by revealing my first dream profession: to be a witch. At six, I wrote a fairy tale in which the princess divorced the prince and set out on a quest of her own.<BR/><BR/>Growing up, I felt genuinely embarrassed by boys' attempts at chivalry for many reasons: they were clumsy at it and I saw they were often as afraid as I was of challenges and conventions; my crazy spontaneity and talkativeness made me very unfeminine if the fairy-tale heroine/victim be taken as model.<BR/><BR/>You speak of the white knight syndrome, I name my pet peeve "the princess myth." Girls are supposed to play the princess, to have things happen <I>to them</I> and not <I>make</I> things happen (cf. Sandra Cisneros' short story "Woman Hollering Creek"). And then comes a moment when most girls discover there's a limited number of openings for the position of princess. Many of them end up somewhere alone in the night, trying to get their basket to grandmother and there is no knight or hunter to protect them but many, many wolves...<BR/><BR/>Just like you I love Cate Blanchett in shiny armor. No one should have their claws taken out, man or woman, or try to <I>play</I> the hero, but practice a genuine kind of courage to be themselves. (Preferably without evil;-))<BR/><BR/>All the best in 2008!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-66210972122053337422007-12-19T16:31:00.000-08:002007-12-19T16:31:00.000-08:00Thanks for the links, Doug. Pretty interesting.Thanks for the links, Doug. Pretty interesting.Jeff Pollethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13789663140920958914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28989955.post-19449588846362663362007-12-19T10:35:00.000-08:002007-12-19T10:35:00.000-08:00By the way - have you discovered the TV Tropes Wi...By the way - have you discovered the <A HREF="http://tvtropes.org" REL="nofollow"> TV Tropes Wiki</A> yet? As a catalog of storytelling conventions and common themes and occurrences in fiction, there's lots of comments about the prevalence of gender stereotypes and sexism, such as in <A HREF="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FauxActionGirl" REL="nofollow">Faux Action Girl</A> and <A HREF="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MostWritersAreMale" REL="nofollow">Most Writers are Male</A>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com