She was so beautiful it took the prince’s breath away and he kissed her, took her to his castle and they lived happily ever after…

In so many fairytales have we heard so many similar things. Girls are growing up fed these stories, believing that if you are beautiful it is because you are a kind, gentle, loving ‘creature’ but when you’re ugly it is because you are unkind, greedy, lazy and unsympathetic person. Girls dream of becoming princesses one day, thinking that if only they can convince their prince or the knight in shinny armour that they are worthy of their affection they will be happy till the end of time and have everything they desire … But it’s not true. Boys on the other hand don’t have that problem, they know that even if they marry a princess her brother is the one who inherits everything anyway so why bother… It is far more beneficial to practice football or become a computer programmer or even a priest.

The tricky part for the British girls is the fact that there is still monarchy in the country and princes and princesses still exist so theoretically anything is possible. If you are beautiful enough maybe a prince will come and knock on the door one evening asking you for a hot meal and shelter for the night. In the morning he will wake you up saying that he’s never met anyone as beautiful as you and he wants you to live with him in his castle… of course when you wake up the prince is a frog, the castle is a swamp and you have three children who depend on you because your prince charming doesn’t have a job and has to pay alimony to two ex-wives and 8 children.

Girls in other countries are taught the same fairytales and have similar dreams about men who are handsome and righteous, men who will take care of them and they don’t have to worry about anything … I have met some of these men. I can’t help but think that they have been cheated by the same stories as their wives. Even with the best intentions these men are not able to carry the burdon of every day life on their shoulders and knowing that their partner is not equally responsible ( even if by their own choice ) destroyes the relationship and in the end makes the partnership a dictatorship.

Unfortunately the dictator is still the man but would it be dfferent if we taught our girls from the very beginning that instead of dreaming about being princesses they could be chief executives, directors, scientists, doctors, bosses or in general whoever they want to be without telling them that they have to be like Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Rapunzel, what would the world look like? Would it be more peaceful…

What do you think?