Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
In Another Episode of “Everything is Problematic”
First, they came for the Disney princesses, and I did not speak out, because I’ve always hated Disney princesses. That’s how I feel at least. So here I am, speaking out against the offensive on Disney princesses, because I’ve come to learn the culture war will inevitably come to my doorstep.
In case you missed it, Disney princesses is the outrage du jour:
So, @imkristenbell is right – we need to talk about #consent – and fairytales are an excellent place to start. pic.twitter.com/bO7UZGlo0I
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) October 19, 2018
Apparently, Prince Charming kissing Snow White is now a lesson in consent and it’s one we should be teaching our young daughters interested in their own juvenile version of escapism. Nothing is sacred, nothing can just be enjoyed, even by children.
It’s not just about losing yet another outlet for entertainment; but a continued assault on everything that is good and righteous about men in our society. This isn’t just a culture war, but a war on men and manliness. Consider the story of Snow White and how Prince Charming saves her: without that kiss, Snow would have been doomed to an eternal sleep. Say what you will about the lesson it teaches a young girl that only a man can save her (that is my primary frustration with fairy tales, and why I try to mitigate their presence in our home); but to make the story of Snow White about … consent? How exactly could Snow have granted this consent, and what would have been the preferable course of action for Prince Charming to take? Let her rot, unconscious?
The only thing for the Prince to do was to give Snow a kiss to wake her from her slumber; it was the only way to save her. Which is what makes it interesting that this is the story Amnesty chose to highlight the importance of granting consent. Is it more important for a man to obtain consent than it is for them to save a woman? What does that look like in the real world, and what does that teach our young men about becoming men? Should they look the other way if a woman falls, because if they attempt to catch her, they may (inadvertently) touch her in a “offensive” manner? If we make the story of Snow White about consent, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.
It’s not enough to tell young boys they can’t save a woman, but that they can’t even be, they can’t even walk through a store. Consider this disturbing story:
Nine-year-old Jeremiah Harvey says he was traumatized after a white woman wrongly accused him of sexually assaulting her in a convenience store. "I was humiliated," he tells @GMA. https://t.co/tNaxkdtmq8 pic.twitter.com/glzazD44NO
— ABC News (@ABC) October 19, 2018
This is the future that awaits us if we let Snow White become a story about consent. It’s not, and will never be, nor should it be. There are age-appropriate ways to teach both boys and girls about sexual boundaries and abuse; and it’s an important conversation to have in order to ensure our children don’t become victims or abusers themselves. Age-appropriate is the key word in that previous sentence and a distinction that escapes far too many adults elbowing their way into the minds of children in order to sexualize fairy tales and convenience stores.
When the most innocent parts of childhood are stripped away in order to score some points in the current culture war fad, we’re left not only with traumatized kids like Jeremiah Harvey, but also kids who have had their childhoods stripped away by adults who really ought to know better.
Published in Entertainment
Can you add clarity to what the 9 year old boy did? You and the video didn’t describe what happened. Thanks.
Would the same comment have been made if it was a woman who kissed her?
The SJW crowd is missing one very important component to the story: True Love.
Both in Sleeping Beauty and Snow White the only thing that will break the spell is True Love’s kiss. In that sense, this is a forever love and emblematic of a lifetime commitment, exactly the opposite of today’s hookup culture. You kiss, you commit. They’re more afraid of that sentiment than consent.
When he was passing a woman in a crowded store his book bag brushed against her backside. She then accused him of groping her. Video shows he had his back to her and his hands were visible in front of him. He bumped against her with his book bag.
Sorry! I assumed it was a story that got around because I’ve been living under a rock and saw it a few times. He brushed past her in a store and she claimed he sexually assaulted her. A nine year old boy.
Actually, it’s not a bad lesson to young women that only a young man can save them. Because it’s true. And vise versa. FFS, feminism had got to be the most awful ideology in the history of bad ideologies.
The real feminist take should probably should be “stop taking food from strange women in the woods, because no man is coming to save you from stupid decisions”
If I’ve seen it happen once, I’ve seen it a hundred times. A low-life is brought up on rape charges and explains to the jury that after having read or watched Snow White, he assumed society was cool with rape. The jury shrugs and acquits.
Sleeping Beauty and Snow White didn’t provide informed consent before being put into persistent vegetative states, but does anybody complain about the witches’ assaults?! NooOOoooOoooOooooOooo…
At the end of the day, these stories are about medical malpractice and why medical licenses aren’t handed out on the basis of aristocratic heredity.
So, if a firefighter finds an unconscious woman on the floor of a smoke-filled room in a burning building, she should be left there if proper consent to pick her up and carry her out cannot be obtained verbally.
just looking for an end condition here.
I am with Ryan: there is nothing wrong with other people saving us. Especially if they do it out of love.
Was Prince Charming a trained, certified, and liability-insured First Responder?
No.
No he wasn’t.
Clearly, he should have called 9-11 to report an unconscious person in the woods.
< devil’s advocate mode = on >
In the movie version, was he ever actually told that a kiss would cure her of her slumber?
Heck, did he even know what her slumber was magically-induced?
I don’t believe there’s a scene in the movie where anybody tells him the background of this girl in the woods. As far as he knew, she was just a random girl having a nap.
I dunno how it worked in the original version of the story.
< devil’s advocate mode = off >
In no way should this be interpreted as an endorsement of the thesis that a movie from freakin’ 1937 is responsible for the insidious rape culture which has infected the nation.
Does being a trained, certified, and liability-insured First Responder confer psychic powers?
Because if it does, I really goofed on my career path.
What about a princess kissing a frog and turning it back into a prince. Where does consent come in?
The other moral of the story: If you’re going to attempt an assassination of the true heir to the kingdom, be sure to dispose of the body. Don’t just assume that the heir is dead.
Additional Devils advocate question:
What if it took more than a kiss? (if you get my drift)
Here’s a question: What would the Prince have done if he’d come across a random dude asleep in the woods? Would that dude be left alone to die of hypothermia? That’s pretty sexist.
Which brings up the question, if a feminist drops dead in front of you, do you do CPR? It involves touching (hands near the chest and lips on lips) with a person who cannot give consent.
There’s also the version in Mark Zacharov’s 1978 film version of “An Ordinary Miracle.” (No longer on YouTube, but it’s available on Daily Motion with wildly out-of-sync English subtitles.)
The wife of the Magician/Playwright thinks her husband has put a bear-turned-into-handsome-lad in a terrible situation. “A girl falls in love, kisses him, and he turns into a wild animal!”
“That’s not so unusual.”
That’s not quite a literal translation, but I like it better than what’s in the latest subtitle file I found on the Internet.
Alas, the actors who played the magician and the bear-man are no longer with us. However, Zacharov, the magician’s wife, and the princess still are.
Because it’s clear he means to take advantage of her in her unconscious state. Good observation . . .
You have got to be kidding . . .
Tsk tsk. It’s quite obvious the prince didn’t have a cell signal, so he did the only thing he knew – kiss her and hope that Disney princess stuff worked.
OTOH, good thing he didn’t sexually assault her instead – a hot chick, passed out in the woods, maybe drunk . . .
Definitely something to this…
By the way, I hadn’t heard of this outrage until you posted about. It’s completely unnecessary to get these topics from the news media, or wherever it is that people hear about them, because Ricochet will be sure to take them up.
The Princesses should learn to code
In fourth grade, one of my daughters wrote a book as part of a school project, The Princess Who Was Saved. After being locked into a tower, she cries for awhile, then finds a knife on a tray from the kitchen. She swipes it, cuts herself loose from her bonds, and escapes and fights her way to freedom.