I am not a Disney Princess

So this week the director of Academy Award winning Disney Pixar creation Brave has criticised the over sexualised redesign of heroine Merida. Over 166,000 people have signed a petition to Disney Chairman Bob Iger asking him to sort it out - you should sign it too. But let's face it, we have some responsibility over what role models we give to children. And some people get that...

Jamie Moore, an American photographer, wanted to take some portrait shots of her daughter to mark her daughter's 5^th birthday. After hitting up the world wide web for some inspiration she noticed that most of the suggestions were for Disney Princess costumes. Pretty standard for such an age. 

But really, is this the best we can do?

First up - do we want 5-year-olds to think that having only animals as friends is normal? (Clearly an early indicator of Crazy Cat Lady Syndrome)

More importantly - do we really want to encourage 5-year-olds to dream of being a woman who, through her own stupidity or the schemes of an evil step-mother/witch, sits around in a pretty dress waiting to be rescued by a handsome prince? All in the name of True Love don’t forget – a True Love quite often formed during one chance meeting in a forest followed by a duet so heavenly that angels wept and old ladies reminisced about their youth. A True Love based on one dance at a ball. Or sometimes, True Love entirely founded on the drop-dead gorgeousness of said damsel in distress. Naturally, this kind of True Love can only be demonstrated by said handsome prince effortlessly defeating all foes, rescuing the princess from certain death or awakening her from a magically induced coma with True Love's First Kiss.*

But that’s great, 5-year-olds you should aspire to be That Girl. Enjoy a life of being helplessly dependent on a man - because lets face it, you have no means to choose an alternative should you wish. You can bitch to all your squirrel friends about it.**

Fortunately Jamie Moore had a better idea - she knows that we're living in a post Spice Girls Girl Power and Destiny's Child Independent Women world.***

Instead of styling her daughter as a pathetic princess waiting to be rescued by a posh bloke with a title she worked with her daughter to pick five real women instead. Real women who actually did something worth noting. real women who didn't let their lives be defined by the obstacles they faced but chose to work round them - something inspirational. 

Real women. Not perfect, but real. 

I just Love it. 

Here is the original post and of course the photos. 

Who would your inspirational female role models be?

And don't just say your mum because that's too cliché. 

I also Love this:

*I'm not saying that it's not True Love but hello, exception-rule --> you've got to know the difference. And we wonder why teen girls love Twilight so much – its just a slightly more grown up Disney. Without the singing obvs. There would have to be actual smiling in the film for singing, something we’re all pretty sure R-Patz isn’t capable of.

**Yes there are a few Disney exceptions. Shout Out to Mulan - she only goes and saves the whole nation from an invasion. Merida, from Brave, is one of Disney's more recent princesses and is pretty Kick As too. And yes, Belle and the Beast fell in love after spending a whole winter together not just five minutes. But with a library and castle like that do you blame her?

***Ignoring the fact that they ran all over the world in tiny clothes in order to get famous and sell records (in some ways depressingly similar to  the Pussy Cat Dolls). And despite what Beyonce thinks - girls certainly don't run the world.  (I still love you Bey, even if you are a bit out of touch from reality. I mean, did anyone see that documentary? #believesherownhype)

The Past Few Weeks

So, I haven’t had my life sorted enough lately to find enough time to write anything. So here is a brief insight into the past few weeks:

I have achieved one of my lifelong dreams of becoming a Pirate! Not one of those super scary ones that like to kidnap people off the coast of Somali (but as my Nan says, “What are they doing sailing in pirate water in the first place?”). But one of those old skool pirates with peg legs and eye-patches that liked to kidnap people, and I’m sure you’ll all agree that they’re much friendlier. Anyways, I am volunteering with the Hackney Pirates, an “innovative education project developing literacy and creativity in young people, by giving them one to one attention in an unconventional learning environment” (click here for more info). We spend the first half of the session helping the kids with their homework and the second half on a creative project which then gets sold to raise funds. The kids have recently finished writing and recording some spoken word poems and are now writing dramatic monologues. Being a pirate is fun.

I have also become a Climber - of sorts. Wilma (roommate) and I completed a three week climbing course at the local climbing centre. Despite almost falling off the wall (and consequently to my death) when stuck four meters up one of the climbing walls it was a lot of fun. You should climb too. 

You should also read Peter Pan. I read it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Genius. 

I also read Anne of Green Gables for the first time in years (I'm developing a slight habit of making regular trips to Oxfam Books – but surely a habit that benefits other people isn't really that bad). Most Romantic Gesture ever = Gilbert Blythe giving his job to Anne so that she can stay in Avonlea and look after Marilla. Next up on the Oxfam Books reading list is The School at the Chalet (that I now own two copies of - give me a shout if you want one). So I'll be spending the next few days dreaming of quitting my job and starting a boarding school in Austria. Speaking of work...

I have been to Salisbury, home of the Trussell Trust HQ, quite a lot lately. One of the trips was for a Trussell Trust Team Day, where all the staff from different departments came together to meet each other and talk about how things were going. In the last couple of years the Trussell Trust has grown so so much and they really are doing some amazing things (click here to find out more about the children's camps in Bulgaria). It was a great day but it made me sad that I’ll be leaving in September and will no longer be a part of such an inspirational team.*

One of the side-effects of my job has been that I've learned all the tube lines by colour. And now I've discovered another side effect - I can name and locate all the London boroughs, which you have to admit is quite a good life skill to have. You never know when you'll need to distinguish Havering from Hounslow, Bromley from Brent or  Camden from Croydon. You may laugh now but these places are at opposite ends of the city and I'll get the last laugh when you take the wrong turning and end up in Redbridge instead of Richmond. 

I have recently discovered that one of the side-effects of living in Shoreditch is that I am becoming fearless about what I wear. As one of my flatmates put it, “You live in Shoreditch, you can wear whatever you like!” Totally claiming that one! As part of this boldness I have decided to embrace my naturally out of control curly hair and stop straightening it. My beloved GHDs have been put away. Apologies in advance if you have to be seen with me and my hair looks like this:

However if I am wearing my amazingly beautiful new shoes you might not mind the state of my hair so much.  I bought new shoes yesterday. Black five and half inch platform court wedges. They are Beautiful and I LOVE them. I will probably break my neck, but  it's a small price to pay for such beautiful shoes (I am more of a girl than I care to admit). Paolo Nutini was so right.

And now that I own the most beautiful shoes ever, top of my wish list is this set of cake tins:

Combining two of my favourite things: London and Cake (just in case you’re feeling generous here's the link: http://www.lakeland.co.uk/43167/My-London-Cake-Tin-Duo, I can send you my address. I'll even bake you a cake). London really is the best city in the world. I love it. How often can you join city workers eating their lunch while watching some old folks take part in an open air tea dance with a brass band? (Spitalfield’s market y’all). However not all of London is so pretty or fun but I'll write about that later because I doubt anyone will read this far. Five points to you if you're still with me.

So there we go, a random collection of things.

*(don’t ask me what I’ll be doing yet because I simply don’t know – but it will probably involve living in East London because lets face it – outside of Croydon why would you want to live anywhere else?)