Mom Gives Her Daughter's Disney Princess Book a Seriously Awesome Feminist Makeover

Updated on 8/28/2017 at 5:05 AM

Danielle Lindemann

Danielle Lindemann thought that as a sociologist who studies gender roles she was pretty attuned to gender stereotypes, but having a daughter of her own "cranked that awareness up to a whole new level." When she came across one of her daughter's favorite Disney princess books, she decided to give it a bit of a feminist makeover to teach her nearly 3-year-old daughter some important lessons.

"The constant inundation with princess stuff drives me crazy," Danielle, a professor of sociology at Lehigh University, told POPSUGAR Moms. "Because it's basically teaching these little girls that their worth lies in looking nice and hooking up with the right guy. Still. In 2016." When her daughter received the princess book as a gift, this feeling drove Danielle to add little comments onto each page to make it a bit more badass.

"My daughter wanted to read it over and over, so to prevent my eyes from rolling permanently into the back of my head, I decided to make a few edits. It's weird because I expected my daughter to react to the edits, but she sort of just rolled with them. Maybe the new narrative seemed natural to her. Why wouldn't Cinderella have sparkly shoes and also be a neurosurgeon?

Of course, of all the gender-related problems in the world, the representation of princesses in children's books is not high on the list, but it is a symptom of a larger culture that's telling girls and women what their worth is (or isn't)."

Read through to see some of Danielle's awesome edits.

"A princess likes to dress up in her medical scrubs when she goes to work as a neurosurgeon."

"Jasmine flies through the sky. She holds onto Aladdin because he is scared."

"My body, my choice!"

"A princess loves to see new things, like a federal standard for paid maternity leave."

"It would be great to see more women in the Senate . . ."

"A princess is kind of a badass."