'Princess Syndrome'

In this article, they discuss  Child pyschologist, Dr. Jennifer L Hardstein's new book called "Princess Recovery". In her book, Dr. Hardstein talks about what she calls the 'Princess Syndrome', where she theorises that "traditional stories like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella promote the idea that if a girl is pretty enough and has fancy clothes and shoes, she find love and popularity." Dr. Hardstein states that 'Girls are getting this message everywhere that... what their worth is based on is how they look and the things that they have and it's very superficial.'

Dr. Hardstein's theory can be seen in films such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Princess Diaries and Mulan. In these films, the lead character changes herself in some way in order to attain love. This represents our superficial society where appearance is everything. These films are promoting and reinforcing the idea that you must conform to their standard of beauty (thin, pale skin, nice hair, etc.) in order to for other people to like you or find you attractive. These films capitalize on the basic human need for love. They show their audience that if you don't look this way or act this way, then you won't be happy and nobody will love you. In every Princess movie, the female lead is always looking for the approval of a boy. This shows that the only way you can feel loved is if you get the approval of a boy that you like, which you can attain by changing yourself so that he will like you--at least, that's what they do in the movies. This teaches girls that happiness and love is attained through the approval of others, or to put it simply, you can only get love and happiness from other people. It tells them that being single and independent won't equal to a happily ever after...that you need a man to be happy. 

The 'Princess Syndrome' is just one of the negative effects of fairy tales on women. These stories give women the false idea that changing yourself and acting a certain way in order to conform to society's standards or to impress someone will make you happy and feel loved. These fairy tales show how women are represented in modern day fairy tales reflect our superficial society, and that women must change themselves and present themselves in a certain way in order to conform to society's idea of beauty.