PROJECT: I AM NOT A PRINCESS ... I AM A ....

So as Christmas fast approaches and children wander the aisles in search for toys to add to their lists to Santa, we can a clear divide between the genders as the ‘boys’ aisle’ is lined with superheroes, firemen and some sort of transforming robot, whereas the ‘girls’ aisle’ is noticeably a bright shade of pink with princesses, dolls and worryingly kitchen equipment (which is also a pale shade of pink). And so we ask, why is this? To be more specific, why should the ‘princess’ genre play such a large part in young girls lives when they mostly give the young girl ideologies that she ‘must be rescued by a guy’ or worse still, ‘be miserable until she has found her prince’.

Now I admit, more recently there have some films that have given us some strong, independent princesses (Brave, Rapunzel), nevertheless, why must they be ‘princesses’ in the first place?

‘I am not a princess…I am a…’ is a new project which has the main aim of showing young girls what careers are available to them as they progress to womanhood! It is too often in our childhood that girls are shown images of princesses, whom primary goal is to find their prince… or as modern adaptions has shown us, they have a dream…but it is suddenly interrupted by their need to ‘love’.

The project aims to collect personal drawings from women of all ages who are in a career, which is not that of being ‘a princess’. So far we are extremely appreciative to have received drawings from the creator of ‘The Everyday Sexism Project’, students, and those who have found the project via Facebook.

Iamnotaprincessiama.com will feature all of the drawings and act as an ‘online picture book’ as it were. By using hand-drawn pictures, we can make a range of careers more accessible to young girls and encourage them to dream higher!

If you would like to contribute to the project, all you have to do is to simply draw a picture of yourself in your career (or in the progress of your future career). The drawings can be as simple or elaborate as you would like, however they are to be uploaded online so as long as this is possible, draw away!

It has not yet been decided whether the drawings will be used in a different format e.g. a book, a play, or will remain as this accessible blog for future non- princesses, so please note that by contributing, your drawings and name may be publicly shared. (The site will use first names only!)

Please send your drawings to: iamnotaprincessiama@hotmail.co.uk

Or you may tweet or Facebook message us!

Are you feminist at Rhul with a feminist project that needs promoting? Email us at rhulfeminism@gmail.com