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This is not a vitriol-laced rant.  But it deals with a subject very close to the vitriol-producing centers of my bitter, wizened heart, so things may get a little acerbic at times. You have been warned.

I was recently pleased to discover that, after what I’m sure was much soul-searching and calculating of potential revenue losses, Disney has announced it will no longer produce fairy tale-oriented flicks.

This means no more princesses.

I may be the lone female in all the world who is pleased as punch about this.

I realize that I’m a bit of an outlier in the standard female demographic. When I was a small girl, I wanted to be Wonder Woman. Oh, sure, I also wanted to be a sparkly fairy in a tutu at some point, and I played with My Little Ponies. But I never wanted to be a princess. I didn’t actually spend days and days running around in little glittery outfits and ballet shoes, or have tea-parties or do the nail-painting, hair-braiding thing that a lot of girls are apparently genetically predisposed to. I was what is technically referred to as a “tom boy.” I read books about world-travelling adventuresses who never failed to save the day. I played with cars and water pistols, alongside the fuzzy stuffed kitties and horsies and Barbie dolls. Sometimes I played with them at the same time. This might be some kind of affront to the natural order of things, but whatever. I was a rebel.

Later, I grew up. I did happen to absorb the standard Disney fare of helpless princesses and hapless princes, but I can honestly say I never really developed the psychotic obsession with them that a lot of girls seem to have acquired in the past ten years or so. Of course, we didn’t have the aggressive advertising campaigns that are so prevalent today ramming these sparkly long-haired “icons” of femininity down our throats either, so that may have something to do with why I just never paid them a great deal of thought one way or another. Until I went to work in child care, I didn’t realize the degree to which the Disney view of female role models had warped the minds of young girls everywhere.