Princess Life

 Minnie will only wear her Little Mermaid nightgown— to bed, lounging around the house, on a walk through the neighborhood with a full diaper— you know, anywhere.

Since the nightgown is in constant use, I bought another, but it’s Beauty and the Beast, and she’s just not as invested. She did dance to “Be Our Guest” very seriously after bath, though, so maybe she’ll come around.

Clearly, we are all in on the princess life.

Sometimes people ask me why I am so into Barbies/LOL dolls/princesses and am also a feminist. I have well-intentioned friends and neighbors wrinkle their nose and tell me that their daughters, for example, aren't going to take dance class and are going to play _____ sport instead. And I mean how is a wholesale rejection of girl culture any better than an unquestioned embrace of it? Gender is a cloud, not a binary, you know?

Which is to say, I have no problem with princess culture for any kid-- or dance or hockey or any traditionally gendered activity. But rejecting princesses because they're girlie and then turning toward a traditionally "boy" thing instead is JUST AS STOOPID.

Also, I adore spelling stupid stoopid which is of course stupid.

So, we embrace the princess life, but we also try to problematize the narrative.