Changes in the Stereotypical Portrayal of Women in Fairytales with Time

Fairytales have always been a very important part of everyone’s childhood. They have always been considered as a source of entertainment for children. However, despite that fairytales play an important role in changing, and influencing the developing minds of children. All the fairytales that we have usually seen in our childhood, were very significant in intricating the ideals of patriarchal society into the fabric of our little minds. However, with the evolution of time, and the ideals of society, the portrayal of the of the female characters in the Disney fairytales has changed a lot. 

Attractive and Submissive Women:

The Grimm’s fairytales instead of serving as a source of entertainment also played an important role in the depiction of the ideals of the society of the 1950’s. The portrayal of the female characters in the fairytales such as Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty was in accordance to the ideas of the patriarchal society in which women were supposed to be both attractive, and submissive. The beauty and attractiveness were considered to be important factors at the time, for a woman to have a happy life. Therefore, the main characters Cinderella, and Princess Aurora were depicted as extremely attractive women in the fairytales Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty respectively. Cinderella was always compared with snow due to her fair complexion which reflected her innocence. However, her stepsisters were portrayed as unattractive women with dark complexion which portrayed their evilness. Similarly, in Sleeping Beauty, the Maleficent was an evil witch who was always shown wearing a black gown, which depicted her evilness. Therefore, the innocence was associated with color white, while the evilness with color black.               

Men as Saviors:

People of the fifties also believed that the core purpose of a good woman was to wait for a right man in order to get rid of all the difficulties she was facing in her life. The man was considered as a key to open the doors of happiness, and bring good fortune to the heroine. Therefore, Cinderella always listened to her stepsisters and stepmother, and dealt with their traps, and bad behaviors with patience while waiting for a perfect man to come into her life, and rescue her. Similarly, in Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora could only be saved from death through the kiss of a Prince who must have immediately fallen in love with her. How could a person who has never met you before, fall in true love with you? Therefore, these stories portrayed that every woman needs a man to survive or to be saved from all the calamities she faces in her life. 

       

Strong, Powerful, and Independent Women:

However, the change in the ideals of the society due to the passage of time also impacted the portrayal of the women in the same fairytales. Due to the increased awareness of feminism in society, the New Versions of both these fairytales have changed the notions of a good and a bad woman, and have portrayed them to be the master of their own happiness. The Cinderella in the New Version of the Disney movie is shown to be humble instead of being submissive, and is depicted as someone who believed that she herself could overcome these difficulties instead of waiting for a man to come and save her. Moreover, the Maleficent in the fairytale Sleeping Beauty, is shown as a very attractive, powerful, and independent ruler instead of a man, which depicts matriarchy. 

The New Notions of True Love:

Writers have now also started to challenge and subvert the stereotypical ideas of the previous society by changing the narratives of their stories, and by giving voice to the stories of the evil characters. They have also challenged the stereotypical notions of true love, as Princess Aurora is being saved by the kiss of Maleficent instead of the Prince. She was able to save her because she knew her since her birth, and had always loved her. Therefore, true love does not only exist between a man and a woman. A person can also experience the warmth of true love through different characters or relationships in his/her life. 

             

 

During the Pandemic in 2020, we had no choice but to bid farewell to our daily and regular social and work responsibilities. In short, we all found ourselves spending more time at home with a great deal of free time on our hands. Not only did it give everyone a break but allowed us all a chance to focus on things we never spared time for; it allowed so many women to work on something. A breakthrough came a couple of months after the virus’s outbreak when social media showed a rise in home-based businesses, especially by women. Not only did this give these women a chance to earn but it also gave them a chance to reach their full potential. Here’s why women should take up this excellent opportunity and open a home-based business themselves.

Easily Manageable at Home

With a halt in our daily commute and social obligations, women have the advantage of ample free time on their hands. So, this provides you with the best opportunity to work and plan solely on opening your own business and that too at your own house! You can devise the complete business plan with ease. Now’s the best time! The major benefit is that home-businesses are easy to manage with other personal responsibilities be it academic responsibilities or family related.

Different Experiments

Owing to the free time on account of the pandemic, you can experiment with lots of things. Make a list of all your hobbies and things you’re good at: baking, cooking, art, writing, teaching, embroidery and the list goes on. Try to find something you’d be able to sell and experiment endlessly with it. For example, in the case of baking and cooking it’s possible to experiment with different recipes and different cuisines. Always remember, it’s okay to make mistakes because that’s where you’ll learn the most. In the end, you will be sure of what you want to work on exactly.

 

Be Your Own Boss

The best part is- You are your own boss! You get to decide your working hours, your strategies and everything regarding your business is solely your own choice.

You get to do what you like.

You can do it whenever you want to.

Also, you decide wherever you want to work.

All three things combined will make the work even more exciting. The biggest plus point is that you don’t have to follow anyone else’s orders.

 Passion & Following Your Dream

Running your own business is undoubtedly an excellent way of doing what you love- you get to work on things you are passionate about. Sadly, this can hardly ever be achieved if you work for someone else or some other enterprise. So, with your own startup you can work on your crazy, new and unique ideas and introduce them to the world as well.

Spending Money

Once you establish your own successful start-up, there will inevitably be cash coming in; you will be earning your own hard-earned money. Financial independence is the best gift a woman can give herself and this is an excellent source of achieving that milestone in your life. Consider that extra money a gift from you to yourself and go spend it. Buy that expensive sweater you liked, take yourself out for a fancy lunch, the list can go on. Also, you can always spend the money you earn on re-investing in your business- your own efforts will go on into expanding your enterprise.

Saving Money

One major lesson COVID-19 has taught us is how crucial savings are for a secure future. Thus, with your own business not only do you get to spend on yourself, but you get to build up on your savings. Financial independence followed by financial security gives women a lot more power than even they themselves realize. It will become easier to increase your savings by keeping aside a small proportion of your monthly earnings.

Chances of Growth

We must not forget that large businesses once started small and, in many cases, they started at home. A major example and inspiration can be taken from the brand “Shan Foods” which initially started as a home-based business in 1981 (part of the cottage industry). Today, it is a leading and internationally recognized and in demand brand. Therefore, you must never hesitate to implement your unique ideas as you always have the chance of growing in the future.

Learning Environment

Starting up and running a business provides a learning opportunity and a learning environment. It’s hard to imagine intense learning while you’re at home; but surprisingly you can still learn a lot. The planning and execution of the business venture teaches time discipline as deliveries on time are crucial for your business’s success. Not just that you get to directly interact with your customers and build a healthy work relationship; something impossible otherwise.

You’re an Entrepreneur 

Yes, you get to call yourself an entrepreneur! Never think of yourself as anything less as you completely qualify as one. Fun fact: In the Bollywood movie “English Vinglish”, Sridevi was a housewife who made and sold home-made ‘ladoos’ (sweetmeats) herself and was quite popular for those. However, she never knew or acknowledged the fact that she ran a business until a foreigner told her that she was an ‘entrepreneur’ when she went on a trip abroad. It’s sad how women need to seek external validation to recognize their full potential, but you don’t need any of that. No matter how big or small your business is, you are nothing less than an entrepreneur. Thus, women must never hesitate to call themselves that.

Motivation to work

Besides having all the advantages of running your own business yourself, this also allows you to become a source of motivation for other women around you. With your experiences and expertise, you can fully and completely guide other women who want to take their step towards financial independence but are hesitant to do so. By helping other women around you, indirectly you will be fulfilling a social responsibility. There is nothing better than a more empowered society where women build each other up.

Supporting Others

With financial independence and security comes great benefits to one’s own self but apart from that you get to support and influence plenty of other lives attached to you; you can support your own parents, children etc. without depending on anyone else. You can also play a huge role in influencing the lives of other women by purchasing from their small and newly established businesses. Your small purchase might be insignificant to a large firm but might mean everything to a small business. In your own way, you can play your part in making the world a better place with your little efforts. Your small business can lay the basis of supporting other small businesses around you, especially those run by women.

These are few of the major potential benefits of running one’s own home-based business. We aim to motivate all women to start-up their own entrepreneurship, especially during the current situation. Next up, we will provide a complete guide of how to start a self-run and home-based business. Stay tuned!

 

 Quiet Women:

 A Unique Celebration of Poetry and Art

Lahore based poet, editor and columnist, Afshan Shafi launched her first full length poetry collection, ‘Quiet Women’ last month. Stocked at Readings, the collection is a unique all-female collaboration featuring the illustrations of acclaimed artists , Samya Arif (Pakistan), Marjan Baniasadi (Iran) and Ishita Basu Mallik (India). 

TS Eliot award nominee and winner of the Forward Prize for Poetry , Vahni Capildeo termed  ‘Quiet Women’ as one of the ‘new poetries emerging in the twenty first century which are characterized by a ferocity that spans yet exceeds love and outrage, involvement and observation’

‘Quiet Women’ is an exploration of form and linguistic artistry, propelled by a sense of creative freedom espoused by the surrealists and  abstract artists. Inspired by the creations of both Eastern and Western female artists and writers this book is a tribute to women, and the power of their collective voices. 

Profile: Afshan Shafi lives in Lahore and has studied English Literature and International Relations at The University of Buckingham and Webster Graduate School London. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Poetry Wales, Blackbox Manifold, Flag + Void, Luna Luna, Clinic, 3am magazine, Ala Champ Magazine, and others. Her poems have also appeared in the anthologies, Smear (edited by Greta Bellamacina) ,The New River Press Yearbook and Halal if you hear me ( edited by Fatima Asghar and Salma Elhilo). Her debut chapbook of poems ‘Odd Circles’ was published by Readings (Pakistan) in 2014. For her work as a poet she has been interviewed by Arte Tv (France) and Words Without Borders. She was a co-founder  of the Woolf Writing Club, a creative workshop series in Lahore. As part of the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan she has appeared on BBC (World), The Times (UK) and in The Economist’s culture magazine. She has also served as a poetry editor for The Missing Slate and is currently a senior contributing editor at Pakistan’s leading literary journal the  Aleph Review. She also serves as an editor-in-chief for the online Pandemonium Journal, which is a platform for emerging creatives from Pakistan and abroad. 

Inspiration to write this book:

This is my first full length collection and is a tribute to the  panoply of female artists that continue to inspire me. From the creations of Iranian artist Farideh Lashai to the work of lesser known poets like Veronica Forrest, there is a rich engagement with the work of these female trailblazers in ‘Quiet Women’. What makes the book different is its collaborative nature. Each artist  I have collaborated with in ‘Quiet Women’ possesses something unique to their perspective. Samya Arif’s illustrations are defined by their bold and stylized detail. She thinks in an opulent manner. Marjan Baniasadi, hails from Iran and has studied at the NCA and her paintings are elegant, deeply intelligent and beautiful. Ishita  Basu who lives in Calcutta, India,  is a poet as well as an artist and there is such a yearning and melancholy to her creations. Their art complements my writing seamlessly in the book.

Synopsis: (This is a blurb by the novelist Anis Shivani and describes ‘Quiet Women’ in good detail)

‘Never have I been so surprised upon reading a book given to me for endorsement; I was, and remain, in a state of shock. From the first words to the last, I remained under the impression that this was the work of a mid or even late career poet at the full peak of her powers; if I had read this book blindly, I might have suspected a poet the caliber of a Bernadette Mayer or Barbara Guest or Marie Howe. I still find it impossible to believe that this is the work of a poet for whom this is only the second book! I won’t comment on the technical wizardry Afshan Shafi has mastered like a veteran—from an internal music that never flags despite conveying complex ideas, to the confidence in initiating interrelated chains of challenging metaphors—but I will say that as someone who likes to indulge in quite a bit of fancy wordplay himself, I often told myself that the ability to stretch the limits of linguistic experiment without losing objective meaning was something I wish I possessed to the extent Afshan Shafi does. There isn’t a slack line in the entire book, it is a compressed whole, a dynamite unity, a wise history of female (aesthetic and social) awakening in a world that has lost its moorings that has few comparisons in the contemporary American poetry world I know best; certainly no one I know among the aspiring poets in America is capable of a mature, objective, dazzling performance such as this one. I can only imagine how far this poet will go, if she hangs on to her supreme confidence’- Anis Shivani, author of Karachi Raj

On how ‘Quiet Women’ came together

‘Quiet Women came together over a period of two years, where my poems were being frequently accepted by European magazines for publication. I decided to put together a collection of these poems with some newer verse with the intention to collaborate with artists for the final product. The titular poem of the collection ‘Quiet Women’ deals with the notion of female silence and the policing of a women’s language and her personal choices. For one reason or the other , this notion of ‘quietude’ had been drilled into me from an early age, and as I grew as a writer I started questioning all kinds of enforced silences, which in turn led me to critically examining all kinds of oppressive practices aimed at ‘containing’ the very agency of a woman. ‘Quiet Women’ as a book, functions for me as a bridge across a myriad number of fears; these verses are bridges across patriarchal structures, restrictive artistic ideologies, and perhaps purely existential concerns (quotes from a recent feature in DailyTimes Pakistan)

On the collaboration with artists for ‘Quiet Women’

I would say that I have been a student of the Surrealists my whole life, as I have often been drawn to the interplay of artist mediums, in which they revelled. Surreal output has always been concerned with  juxtapositions and techniques like ‘collage’ and ‘frottage’, and an indulgence in hybridity. For example , Surrealist collaborations include films based on poems, in the way that the filmmaker Man Ray adapted poems by Robert Desnos to his medium. Since my poems are often initiated by visual ephemera, and my imaginative focus is on delineating these visuals (triggered of course by emotion or artistic curiosity) , I found collaboration with these artists to be a natural progression. Each artist was sent the poem to illustrate without any instructions, the idea was for there to be a fluidity of connection, one derived purely by imaginative means, and for the artworks to be instinctual and primal.

Creative influences and the impact of Surrealism on my work

Each poem in ‘Quiet Women’ is a tribute to the marginalised , whether that figure be that of a woman or an artist or poet. Each poem aims to counter reality with the dream and to re-engineer the accepted image of the creative as ‘outlier’. Whether in terms of stylistic experimentation , influence or tribute, this book aims to upset normative modes of thought and glorify one’s creative faculty. A quote from the founder of Surrealism, Andre Breton, below, explicates much of how the imagination is seen as a threat to all dimensions of order , similarly, much of my work is concerned with consistently upending language, mass-perspective and received ideas in much of the spirit outlined here-

‘Beloved imagination, what I most like in you is your unsparing quality. There remains madness, “the madness that one locks up,” as it has aptly been described. That madness or another. We all know, in fact, that the insane owe their incarceration to a tiny number of legally reprehensible acts and that, were it not for these acts their freedom (or what we see as their freedom) would not be threatened. I am willing to admit that they are, to some degree, victims of their imagination, in that it induces them not to pay attention to certain rules – outside of which the species feels threatened – which we are all supposed to know and respect. But their profound indifference to the way in which we judge them, and even to the various punishments meted out to them, allows us to suppose that they derive a great deal of comfort and consolation from their imagination, that they enjoy their madness sufficiently to endure the thought that its validity does not extend beyond themselves. And, indeed, hallucinations, illusions, etc., are not a source of trifling pleasure’ (The Surrealist Manifesto)

On why I enjoy poetry as a genre and as my chosen form

A poet often writes a poem as a postscript to an emotion . ‘High tragedy’ or ‘wondrous joy’ need not compel the writing of verse, it could be a retained sense of childlike wonder for say an owl, or the precise engineering of a pistol. I feel that I write primarily to escape a powerful inoborn reticence. In that vein these words by the great James Joyce encapsulate perfectly the retaliatory bent of my mind as it stitches a sentence together; ‘poetry even when apparently most fantastic is always a revolt against artifice, a revolt, in a sense, against actuality’

• How many diapers you will have to change in the first few months

The amount of diapers a tiny baby goes through is unfathomable. When you first become parents, you can’t even imagine its possible for this tiny thing to produce that much poo, but there it is. No one can prepare you for that, and it SMELLS.

• How many times you will accidentally hurt them

This one is tricky because you feel bad even thinking about it, but you will bump their head on occasion. Those little nails are a nightmare to cut, so you might end up nipping a bit of skin every now and then. It’s all normal and has happened to the best of us.

• That your kids will embarrass you from the day that they are born

You would want to have things under control when you go out at the least. You might. Your baby might have other plans. You cant plan for diaper blowouts. You cant plan for baby throwing up because he put something in his mouth when you got up to get a glass of water.

Older kids will just tell a stranger that you haven’t showered in 4 days or didn’t brush your teeth this morning—no way around that.

• That they will always fall asleep in the car and wake up fresh as soon as reaching home

On the way back from anywhere, they fall asleep in the car, and you assume that they are gone for the night. You believe you can quietly pick them up and put them in bed. Usually, that’s a bust. They get home and its party time.

• That Once they learn they can get off the shopping cart and walk around its over

When you go shopping with younger kids, you can keep them in the shopping trolly. You hand them a toy or candy, and they enjoy the ride. Then they get older, and they realize they can get off and walk around. The whole ball game changes after that. All you do is run around after them. Nobody tells you to keep them in that shopping cart for as long as you possibly can.

• That They will always find out when you are on a phone call

No matter where they are, no matter what they are doing, they will know, and they will want everything at that moment.

• That Your kid will almost always rat you out to their other parent

Have you ever asked your child not to tell their father or their mother something? How did it go? They always tell you in those books to present a united front, which you always should. Sometimes, you just have to say,” don’t tell baba.” Rest assured, the second you say that, they will run to baba and tell him.

• Gaining weight is a whole lot easier when you have children

You will eat all of your kids’ leftovers. Anything they leave in their plates goes in

 your mouth.

• You will never be able to throw away any artwork they make

Everything has to go on the fridge or will have to be saved. They will remind you constantly, and ask to see where you have put those things. You will have to appreciate pieces of junk as absolute art. Parenting is mostly acting, start practicing it you’re not already.

• Your kids will say offensive things to you, and you will get upset

Children are ruthless. It’s easy to say that we need to ignore them and move on because they don’t know what they are saying, but it is tough to do that in the moment. So, yes, you will get angry at their rude comments, sometimes no matter how calm you have decided to stay. Be confident that they also need your discipline; not everything can be ignored.

• Most of the time even bribing them with ice cream and other deserts won’t help when trying to get them to eat their vegetables

Nothing helps. Its okay to skip a day or so.

• No matter how much the books or people tell you, you cant always nap when the kids nap

This one makes us all cry ugly tears. There’s laundry, dishes, cooking, many of us have other children and adults to take care of, sure you can ignore all that but who can sleep with all that mess laying around. If you can, teach us your ways.

• Make sure your kid uses the toilet before they leave a place with a toilet whether they ask to go or not

They will feel the urge very urgently when there are no bathrooms around. It will happen. Be prepared.

• Speaking of peeing, always bring a change of clothes where-ever you go. ALWAYS.

Just do it.

• Farther speaking of pee, potty training is the hardest part of parenting.

You are not failing as a parent, you are right on track. Potty training is hard on all parents. Cut yourself some slack.

• Farther along, bedwetting is normal even after being properly potty trained.

Don’t blame yourself and don’t blame the child either. Gradually it will get better and eventually it will completely stop. You wont read this in general parenting books but we can recommend books on these topics. Let us know in the comments.

• Finally, your child is not a statistic or a research. Shes a part of you. These books may be important sometimes to help us learn the basics but they don’t know you or your child. Mother knows best!

Make sure they know they are loved; the rest is just detail.