Fairy tales: To tell or not to tell

The old fairy tales don’t give a picture of strong women. How does the modern parent impart empowering values to young girls without ditching the great world of fantasy? Prof Juliana Claassens looks for answers.

The Princess Bible presents women as demure, obedient and obsessed with outer appearance, Juliana Claassens writes.

The other day when my feminist friend and I met for a much-needed coffee break, the conversation turned to my two-year-old daughter’s love for books.

“So what are you doing with all those fairy tales that have been shown by feminist writers to inscribe harmful gender dynamics?” my friend asks.

What indeed to do? My mind goes to all those female characters who cannot save themselves and who are passively waiting for Prince Charming. Or being a very dedicated stepmother, I have always been bothered by all those wicked stepmothers, who as one author rightly puts it, get those lousy roles to play.

Not to talk about the saccharine sweet Princess Bible I stumbled across the other day with its depiction of the female biblical characters in terms of Disney’s fascination with princesses. Bound in pink, this bible sets out to teach little girls what it means to be a princess—God’s princess.

Inadvertently, though, it instils values of women being demure, obedient and obsessed with their outer appearance.

I certainly want to raise my daughter to be able to freely choose how she clothes her own gender identity—even if she decides to wear neon pink because she looks fabulous in it!

But certainly I want to raise her that she continues her love for learning and exploring which is exemplified in her love for her (my) iPad.

Most importantly, I wish for her to grow up in the knowledge that she can be anything she wants to be, not being trapped in gendered stereotypes but rather embracing values such as strength, assertiveness, passion, kindness and compassion.

But what to do with all those fairy tales that look so innocent but might be corrupting my little girl’s mind?

I realised that as a feminist biblical interpreter, I am used to dealing with texts that grew out of a patriarchal context, which if applied literally can be harmful indeed. I am constantly teaching my students skills of dealing with these problematic aspects of the biblical text that not only fail to consider women to be subjects in their own right, but also normalise sexual violence in what have been called “texts of terror”.

So I highlight the importance of deconstructing harmful interpretations of these biblical texts, which is accompanied with a second task of reconstructing visions of God and the world that may have a transformative effect on the individual as well as his/her relationship to others.

With regard to the classical fairy tales which I have started to read to my daughter, I hope to follow a similar approach.  I do not want to give up on the power of fantasy to shape her imagination; the wonderful world of stories that draws one in and casts its magic spell over you.

Therefore, before deconstructing these stories in the many conversations I know we will have on every topic under the sun, including the importance of feminism, my hope is that she will fall in love with books and reading and be hooked on the incredible power of the imagination.

I also hope to tell her some of the fruits of the feminist revisions of these stories, which by means of creative engagement with the classic stories imagine the female lead characters to be strong, assertive, accomplished, talented, and not obsessed with beauty or outer appearance.

I have come across two interesting stories that do exactly this. For instance in Cinder Edna, by Ellen Jackson & Kevin O’Malley (illus. Harper Collins, 1994) , Cinderella’s story is contrasted with that of Cinder Edna who, unlike Cinderella, does not wait for the Fairy Godmother to give her a beautiful dress but rather puts it on laybye and works hard to pay for it herself. And instead of wearing uncomfortable glass slippers to the ball, she puts on her comfortable loafers which allow her to have a ball on the dance floor.

And in The Fourth Little Pig by Teresa Celsi and Doug Cushma (illus. Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1992) we read the story of the three little pigs after they’ve escaped from the wolf. Their sister enters the story, telling her brothers that fear will paralyse them, and encourage them once again to go out into the world, for as “she knows there are worlds to explore…”

These feminist revisionings present girls as capable and independent, and in the case of Cinder Edna celebrate the value of hard work.

One should keep in mind though, as one author rightly points out, that what is needed is not simply role reversals that have the danger of creating “fractured fairy tales”, but rather fairy tales in which the main characters are empowered regardless of gender, and where empowering values and themes are central to the story.

So even though I hope to read in future some creative feminist fairy tales to my daughter that are in conversation with the traditional oeuvre (and I challenge my feminist friends to write some as well), I am quite certain that I am not reading the Princess Bible to her!

Juliana Claassens is associate professor of Old Testament at Stellenbosch University.