Are You Perpetuating Gender Stereotypes by Throwing Your Daughter a Princess Party?

Lots of girls like princesses, it's no big deal really. If I had a son who wanted a prince party I would throw him one too!

Of course it's genetic. Having raised two daugters and now watch the raising of two grand daughters I find the idea that it's a forced stereo type rediculous. The nuts that come up with these ideas must not have raised both boys and girls.

I told my daughters over and over, "Men are just dessert not the main course." First be able to support yourself without a man.

My daughter loves her princesses and her dinosaurs and kicking her older brothers butt at video games..
You can have princess things and still have a well rounded little girl.

yes, it is a big deal... children are being taught that there is no difference between the sexes....LOL... Yes there is silly libtard

I grand daughter has Girl toys and boy toys... She like the dresses, dolls and such. Almost never touchs the standard boy toys for her age.

Certainly it's nowhere near as harmful as that "Toddlers and Tiaras" crap.
I liked to dress up as a princess when I was a little girl, and I certainly didn't grow up into the Carrie Bradshaw stereotype. I'm as modest as it gets when it comes to clothes.

I agree. The mothers of these little girls need lessons in parenting and values.

If she wants princesses go for it. If she wants race cars go for it.

if a little girl is into princesses let her have one not that anyone really cares.

Let girls be girls and boys be boys. I probably should have chosen the 'No' vote, as both of my girls dressed up and played princess; so what.

my wallet is thick just like my penis

Your nose is a foot long from lying so much.

If she likes the idea of being a princess, then let her have a princess party! There should be no stereotypes involved. Honestly? I used to be completely into the whole "princess" thing when I was little, too, and now? I program computers and do jui jitsu.

Only when it is forced on them. I've had friends who's parents forced them to wear girly clothes, have pink wallpaper, and play with barbie dolls when they really wanted to wear jeans and play sports but their parents wouldnt let them. They would ask for games and toys that mainly were marketed towards boys but their parents always said the same thing "No you don't really want that." It's really sick when you buy your children gifts they don't want and I think it shows that you don't care about the child and just want to fulfill your own desires.

no little kids are genetically hard wired to either princesses or cars it seems like-my daughter was into princesses but at 17 she knows how to rescue herself

Let girls be girls, and ya know what? Let boys be boys.

But some little girls like to play in the mud. I know I did. I also liked to play dress up sometimes.

Oh good grief. These "perpetuating a gender stereotype" people really need to get a life. Boys and girls are...wait for it...DIFFERENT!!

my son would have killed for a Sailor Moon party when he was little.. he loved those shows.

No worries.. it's just that most folks would consider Sailor Moon a "girls" show but my son loved it.. he's a huge anime fan.

There is certainly a difference in quality between the shows and the art work...


Still from the show...


And artwork about the show...


Huge difference!

The girly girl social niceties our daughters develop from an early age effectively give them an empowering influence over men later in life. If you raise them in the natural rough housing challenging aggressiveness of the boys they'll only end up as males lacking the upper body strength and none of their gender's natural appeal. Bad idea.

Wrong. My brother and I played together growing up. Sometimes we rough-housed and sometimes we played dress up. He's now as manly as it gets. He's a fire captain and a SWAT medic. I'm not super girly, but I'm not butch either. Let kids be kids. Don't force them into boxes.

Rough housing with your brother doesn't qualify as forcing anybody into a box. Let your rose bloom.

If my daughter wanted a princess party, I don't see the harm. If she wanted a party stereotypical of boys, I wouldn't see the harm in that, either. It only teaches our daughters to use that as a goal in life, if we force the stereotype on them...

Actually, you should check out "Delusions of Gender" by Cordelia Fine it talks extensively about this and how media's portrayal of gender stereotypes plays a huge role in "the pink gene," bigger than the parents portrayal of genders.

I mean, it's ultimately her choice at the end of the day though, it's really important to let her make her own decisions and let her know that her life is her own and belongs to no one else. Keep including empowering ideas and imagery into her play though! Nothing wrong with being a princess, but being a kickass princess that doesn't need to be saved is better than some of the more stereotypical ones that are saved by a kiss and fall in love at the snap of your fingers.

If she wants one she can have one. If she doesn't then she doesn't. There's nothing wring with being "girly" and there's nothing wrong with not being "girly." I had a powerpuff girls theme birthday when I was a kid because I loved that show a lot. My sister who was more into dinosours had a dinosaur themed one. Depends on the kid

If she wants a princess party, good for her, but try to show her more movies like the Swan Princess. When the main character meets her Prince Charming, he declares that they should be married at once because she was so beautiful, but she demands that she needs a better reason to marry someone. Then she continues to fight her way out of a pit of crocodiles and thwart an evil warlock.

No...just...no...

When I was younger, I was a princess for Halloween once...and I was still the biggest tom boy in my class. And I watched all of the Disney movies all the time and loved them...but I'm not sitting here thinking that I'm going to be "rescued by Prince Charming".

By having a sports theme for a boys party, are we teaching our sons that they have to be athletic to succeed in life?? I don't think birthday parties are that deep.

The princess factor is not genetic I blame consumerism and capitalism!

It all depends on the child.

Every girl wants to be a princess at one point and indulging them isn't going to hurt them just because. Yeah, some teach pretty bad morals-- really, I'd stick away from the older Disney Princesses. Particularly, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Snow White. Later princesses, while still not working for their ending, at least do work (Cinderella) or aren't interested in guys until the right one comes along and still gets mad at him for lying to her (Jasmine). Belle was a pretty strong character who didn't like the town Prince at all, and did not start falling in love with the Beast until he started to treat her like a person (though, I won't lie, some of that movie upon closer inspection is really creepy). In the most recent princess movies, the female leads have become quite amazing girls who aren't waiting to be rescued by prince charming. If you want to see an awesome princess, check out Pixar's latest movie, Brave.

Sure, it is perpetuating a stereotype, but I don't think it's problematic as long as it's something the child genuinely likes.

It's only perpetuating gender stereotypes if you never gave her a chance to play with other more stereotypically "boy" things, like cars or sports. If she actually genuinely likes princesses then there's nothing wrong with it. And anyone who said it's genetic, shut up. I never liked princesses when I was little. I still don't.
Everyone seems to be forgetting little girls that don't want feminine, pink toys, and little boys who want nothing more than a Barbie doll. They get screwed over by close-minded parents who "don't want their son to be a fag" and "won't let their daughter become a dyke". I've heard of little boys who are reprimanded to the point of tears because, when given a choice between pink and blue toys, they chose the pink. And I've heard of little girls whose parents refuse to let them near comic books because comic books are a "boy's thing". I've been part of it too, and still am. My Dad was nice most of the time, and would let me wear basketball singlets and basketball shorts around. But when it came to nice clothes I was never girly enough for him. It made me miserable.

Sure beats giving her a boys haircut and a pair of army boots