It's been a long time since certain classic tales are criticized On the part of educators and parents, who argue that apart from being cruel, they transmit values that are inappropriate for children.
Recently it was the turn of the story of "Sleeping Beauty." An English mother has reported that the story is inappropriate because transmits submission and weakness of women, which also culminates with a kiss not consented by the man.
The complaint on social networks
Sarah Hall has a six-year-old boy, and the fear that her son receive a wrong message when you hear or read the story from "Sleeping Beauty" has led him to start a campaign against this children's classic.
This English mother considers that the story includes an "inappropriate sexual message", since the prince kisses the princess without her consent and taking advantage of her lethargy.Therefore, he has contacted the school where his son studies to urge those responsible for the center to eliminate the story from their classrooms, specifically the reading teaching version "Oxford Reading Tree"
In parallel, Sarah published a message on her Twitter account under the hashtag #MeToo, with which hundreds of thousands of people are denouncing on the Internet the sexual abuse and harassment suffered by women in the world.
Tell you what, while we are still seeing narratives like this in school, we are never going to change ingrained attitudes to sexual behavior #MeToo #consent #mysonissix pic.twitter.com/3g4gyjifi9
- Sarah Hall (@Hallmeister) November 19, 2017
"I will tell you something, while we are still watching narratives like this one at school, we will never change attitudes rooted in sexual behavior" - said his message, with which he intends to raise awareness in society.
His message was retweeted and commented by hundreds of people, and although many proved him right, there were also opposing voices that thought that a point had been reached where things were being taken out of context.
I bought a book of 100 fairytales when my daughter was little, read a bunch and promptly threw it in the trash. Women are mostly prizes to be won, property of men or treated as if we are we are sitting around waiting for men… no thanks
- Kate Maxwell (@mrskmax) November 27, 2017
"I bought a book of 100 classic stories when my daughter was little, I read a lot and quickly threw it in the trash. Women are mostly prizes to win, owned by men or treated as if we were waiting for a man forever … no thanks"
Your poor daughter glad I have a mum that lets me believe in fairytales .get some help please
- samantha (@ stamy13) November 27, 2017
"Poor son. I'm glad to have a mother who allows me to believe in fairy tales. Get some help please"
It's not the first time that we talk about how bad these stereotypes can be for children. In fact, a lot of people think about it. Society is more concerned about this type of things. Even Disney is changing its 🙅♀️ characters. pic.twitter.com/pePhSDB0WA
- Sílvia (@SivisVila) November 30, 2017
"It's not the first time we talked about how bad these stereotypes can be for children. In fact, many people think about it. Society is more concerned with this kind of thing. Even Disney is changing its characters."
Have you actually ever read the tale? It's not about a non-consented kiss, but about an effort to revive a person who would otherwise remain in a coma-like state or worse die. It's comparable to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Absolutely ok to teach to assist people in danger!
- Ian McBrayne (@IMcBrayne) November 28, 2017
"Have you ever read the story? It is not an unauthorized kiss, but an effort to revive a person who would otherwise remain in a coma or die. It is comparable to word of mouth resuscitation. Absolutely! well to teach to help people in danger! "
A story that has undergone several modifications
The truth is the classic we all know has nothing to do with the original version written by Basile in 1636 and entitled "Sun, Moon and Talia," where the princess was raped by the prince and became pregnant with twins, who woke her up after sucking her finger and breaking the spell.
In 1697, Perrault softened the story by turning it into "The Sleeping Beauty of the Forest," and although later the brothers Grimm and Walt Disney included some modifications, this story becomes the one we all know today.
But not only "Sleeping Beauty" has undergone changes over time, other classic tales such as "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Cinderella" were changing their versions to make them more childish, sweet and appropriate for children.
A few years ago, a couple and parents of two girls, decided to undertake the project "Once upon a time" with which they intended to go around the classic tales of always and eliminate sexism, violence and inequality from their stories.
There is no doubt that times are changing, and the messages that were intended to be transmitted to children several decades ago (and even hundreds of years), may have no place today. However, I am of the opinion that children, like children who are, they see stories in a very different way than we see adults, or at least some adults.
My three-year-old daughter is in love with the story of "Sleeping Beauty" and Princess Aurora. We read it almost every night and I confess that I had never stopped to think about the negative connotations that, according to some, this story conveys.
How do you see it? Are you in favor, or against eliminating certain classic stories from schools and children's libraries? And specifically, what do you think of the story of "Sleeping Beauty"?
Public way
In Babies and More Children's Stories: educational or too cruel? Sleeping Beauty, 50th anniversary edition, The original version of "Sleeping Beauty" would be not recommended for children, "The Tales of the Grimm Brothers" of Taschen, The The original story of "Cinderella" would not be too suitable for children, The Little Red Riding Hood story has lost part of its meaning to become more childish
