it’s funny that even re-reading this strip now, it feels like such strong feminist dogma!
But, you know? I really believe that this is just because “feminism” has become such a dirty word. Just a week or so ago, I was actually scoffed at because I said i was a feminist. Ick!
But it’s such a vague term. it can mean anything from thinking women have as much rights as men — to the other extreme, Â meaning maybe that you think that babies should be produced scientifically from women’s eggs with no help from men and that men should die off.
Hm, which makes me feel I could define what “me being a feminist” means to me, if I put a little thought into it. Here goes.
For me, i guess, it’s that I try to view people as people rather than as attributes (sex, race, etc), and I try to respect gender differences as well as respect people crossing gender lines. And that I hope that persisting wage and behavior-expectation discrepancies between the sexes will continue to fade away.
Hm. Not bad. Anyway… In the light of this, reading the strip again, it feels almost tame. All the strip is saying is “this princess is not going to sit in a tower waiting to be saved by a man because that is her set role. She’s going to live her life.”
I dunno, Chris, I think this story is oppressive reinforcement of patriarchal assumptions. I mean, what the heck does she need a prince for !?
She doesn’t. but this particular princess wants one. ;-)
Feminism meets the Brothers Grimm.
You remind me of the joke in Simon Gray’s play “Butley”:
“Are you the sort of editor who edits novels where heroes stick their swords in assorted villains and their cocks into assorted ladies? I’ve always thought it’d be interesting to write a story where the hero does it the other way around.”
Re: Feminism: You and I are pretty much on the same page, Chris. I especially like that you “try to view people as people rather than attributes…” I have found far more diversity of personality, ideas, behavior, etc., within groups (race, sex, etc.) than between groups. I have a lifetime of cultural conditioning to overcome, but I do try.