Occasionally, I'll excerpt a reply/comment I've made to an individual post if I think it might be of interest to others/everyone. This is one of those. Sorry about the highlighting; I can't get it off having cut and pasted from the comment section..
You write, "She foolishly trusts the fox and is almost tricked into her and her eggs death, that is until the household dog comes to her, but sadly not the eggs, rescue." The fox is a great stand in here for the wolf and is so often regarded as sly/deceitful . . . and very clever.
You also write, "Jemima's reference to the fox as a gentleman shows that women are easily convinced into trusting people if they are charming." This is a strong interpretation of the metaphor. If this is so, there's certainly a sexist implication in that women are likely to overvalue the charming and the dashing, paying less or no attention to what lies beneath. This, of course, suggests that her discernment is either poor or that she too much values shallow characteristics.
In terms of why a woman might write a sexist story, well, the reasons are myriad. Rather than "selling" or upholding something sexist, it may be that she's illustrating, drawing attention to, such a viewpoint . . . in order to critique it. The use of stereotypes and sexism does not automatically equate the author with views and attitudes present in the story. Of course, it's always difficult to discern what an author "means" specifically unless we have an explanation from the author (convenient, but not usually the case). There's a fun, short rewrite of Cinderella that actually rewrites (rather than revising or tweaking) the tale that I thought you might enjoy: "And Then the Prince Knelt Down and Tried to Put the Glass Slipper on Cinderella’s Foot":
I really didn’t notice that he had a funny nose.
And he certainly looked better all dressed up in fancy clothes.
He’s not nearly as attractive as he seemed the other night.
So I think I’ll just pretend that this glass slipper feels too tight.
You write, "She foolishly trusts the fox and is almost tricked into her and her eggs death, that is until the household dog comes to her, but sadly not the eggs, rescue." The fox is a great stand in here for the wolf and is so often regarded as sly/deceitful . . . and very clever.
You also write, "Jemima's reference to the fox as a gentleman shows that women are easily convinced into trusting people if they are charming." This is a strong interpretation of the metaphor. If this is so, there's certainly a sexist implication in that women are likely to overvalue the charming and the dashing, paying less or no attention to what lies beneath. This, of course, suggests that her discernment is either poor or that she too much values shallow characteristics.
In terms of why a woman might write a sexist story, well, the reasons are myriad. Rather than "selling" or upholding something sexist, it may be that she's illustrating, drawing attention to, such a viewpoint . . . in order to critique it. The use of stereotypes and sexism does not automatically equate the author with views and attitudes present in the story. Of course, it's always difficult to discern what an author "means" specifically unless we have an explanation from the author (convenient, but not usually the case). There's a fun, short rewrite of Cinderella that actually rewrites (rather than revising or tweaking) the tale that I thought you might enjoy: "And Then the Prince Knelt Down and Tried to Put the Glass Slipper on Cinderella’s Foot":
I really didn’t notice that he had a funny nose.
And he certainly looked better all dressed up in fancy clothes.
He’s not nearly as attractive as he seemed the other night.
So I think I’ll just pretend that this glass slipper feels too tight.
According to student María Ayelén Guillén:
d
"The different treatment Viorst gives to a traditional fairy tale princess as Cinderella may be aimed as a criticism of the female role typically portrayed in this type of stories. Eggins (2004) proposes an analysis of genres in the light of the cultural work done through them. In this respect, Lieberman argues that the fairy tales usually read by children “serve to acculturate women to the traditional social roles” (1986: 185) one of these roles being that of an inherently passive being. In Viorst’s poem, this Cinderella is highly active and autonomous, contrary to what would be expected from a princess or a lady in distress. One of the possible intentions of this contrast between a traditional princess and this new Cinderella may be to raise awareness of the cultural work done by and the effect it has on the [social, cultural] role of women."
"The different treatment Viorst gives to a traditional fairy tale princess as Cinderella may be aimed as a criticism of the female role typically portrayed in this type of stories. Eggins (2004) proposes an analysis of genres in the light of the cultural work done through them. In this respect, Lieberman argues that the fairy tales usually read by children “serve to acculturate women to the traditional social roles” (1986: 185) one of these roles being that of an inherently passive being. In Viorst’s poem, this Cinderella is highly active and autonomous, contrary to what would be expected from a princess or a lady in distress. One of the possible intentions of this contrast between a traditional princess and this new Cinderella may be to raise awareness of the cultural work done by and the effect it has on the [social, cultural] role of women."
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