The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children's Fairy Tales Author(s): Lori Baker-Sperry and

Liz Grauerholz Source: Gender and Society, Vol. 17, No. 5 (Oct., 2003), pp. 711-726 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3594706 Accessed: 18/04/2010 15:20
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THE PERVASIVENESSAND PERSISTENCE OF THE FEMININE BEAUTYIDEAL IN CHILDREN'S FAIRY TALES

LORIBAKER-SPERRY Illinois University Western LIZGRAUERHOLZ Purdue University

Thisstudyadvances understanding how a normativefeminine beautyideal is maintainedthroughculof turalproductssuch asfairy tales. Using BrothersGrimm'sfairytales, the authorsexplorethe extentand ways in which 'feminine beauty"is highlighted.Next,theycomparethose tales thathave survived(e.g., Cinderella,Snow White, Sleeping Beauty) withthose thathave not to determinewhethertales thathave beenpopularizedplace moreemphasison women'sbeauty.Thefindings suggest thatfemininebeautyis a dominantthemeand that tales with heavy emphasesonfeminine beautyare muchmorelikelyto have survived.Thesefindings are interpretedin light of changes in women'ssocial status over thepast 150 years and the increasedimportanceofestablishingforms of normativesocial controlto maintaina gender system. Keywords: beauty; fairy tales; Grimm brothers; social control

to The institutionof genderrelies in parton whatLorber(1994, 30-31) referred as of culturalrepresentations genderand embodimentof gengenderimagery-"the der in symbolic language and artistic productionsthat reproduceand legitimate gender statuses."Children'sfairy tales, which emphasize such things as women's passivityandbeauty,areindeed genderedscriptsand serveto legitimatizeandsupport the dominantgender system. in The presentstudyfocuses on one prominent message thatis represented many children'sfairy tales: the feminine beauty ideal. The feminine beauty ideal-the socially constructednotion that physical attractivenessis one of women's most assets, andsomethingall women shouldstriveto achieveandmaintainimportant is of particularinterest to feminist scholars. While the feminine beauty ideal is viewed largely as an oppressive,patriarchal practicethatobjectifies,devalues,and women (e.g., Bartky1990; Bordo 1993; Freedman1986; Wolf 1991), subordinates it is acknowledged that many women willingly engage in "beauty rituals"and
AUTHORS' NOTE: The authors thank Janet Wilmoth,Debra Street, Rachel Einwohner,Susan and for Sprecher, anonymousreviewers their insightfulcommentsand help on earlier draftsof this article. Authors'namesare listed alphabetically.Both authorsmade equal contributionsto this article.
GENDER & SOCIETY,Vol. 15 No. 5, October2003 711-726 DOI: 10.1177/0891243203255605 ? 2003 Sociologists for Womenin Society

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perceive being (or becoming) beautifulas empowering,not oppressive (Dellinger andWilliams 1997). A further paradoxof the femininebeautyideal is thatin a patriarchalsystem, those women who seek or gain power throughtheir attractiveness are often those who are most dependenton men's resources. This study investigatesthe extent to which the feminine beauty ideal has persisted over nearly 150 years by examining its pervasiveness,and tracingits survival, in children'sfairytales. We begin by investigatingthe pervasivenessof feminine beautyin the Grimms'fairy tales. We then analyzetales accordingto whether they survivedinto the twentiethcenturyand explore the extent to which women's in beautypredominates these survivingtales. This studyof beauty'ssignificancein children's fairy tales can provide insight into the dynamic relationshipbetween gender,power,andculture,as well as the culturaland social significanceof beauty to women's lives.

THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FEMININE BEAUTY Beauty,or the pursuitof beauty,occupies a centralrole in many women's lives, women who have the resources,time, especiallyrelativelyaffluentEuro-American andenergyto expendon acquiredbeauty.Bordo (1993, 167) arguedthatthe beauty regimes of diet, makeup,and dress are "centralorganizingprinciples of time and space in the day of manywomen."It remainsone of the majormeansby which adolescent girls and women gain social statusand self-esteem (Backmanand Adams 1991;SuitorandReavis 1995). As notedby Freedman (1986, 11), "womenareaware thatbeauty counts heavily with men and they thereforework hardto achieve it." The social importanceof the feminine beauty ideal lies in its ability to sustain and to reproducegender inequality (Bartky 1990; Currie 1997; Freedman1986; Wolf 1991). The feminine beautyideal can be seen as a normativemeans of social of controlwhereby social control is accomplishedthroughthe internalization values andnormsthatserve to restrictwomen's lives (Fox 1977). In this way, women internalizenormsandadoptbehaviorsthatreflect andreinforcetheirrelativepowerlessness, making externalforces less necessary.Value constructssuch as "nice girl" or "femininebeauty"operateas normativerestrictionsby limiting women's for personalfreedom and laying the "groundwork a circumscriptionof women's for power and control in the world"(Fox 1977, 816). potential Fox (1977, 816) also noted that "normative controlguaranteesto those women who comply with its demandssafe passage in the world"and that women who do not comply are somehow punished. In the case of the beauty ideal, women who achieve a high degree of attractiveness psychologically and socially rewarded are and Williams 1997; Hatfield and Sprecher 1986). Adolescent girls in (Dellinger Currie's(1997,472) studyreportedthat"feelinggood aboutthemselves"depended on "looking good." And Dellinger and Williams (1997) found that women who wearmakeupin the workplaceareseen as heterosexual,healthier,andmorecompetent than those who do not. Those who unsuccessfully attempt to achieve the

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standard,or fail to try at all, are viewed more negatively (Bartky 1990; Dellinger and Williams 1997). Reliance on normativemeans of social control is likely to vary dependingon how contested the gender terrainis. That is, when or where women's lives are highly restrictedvia externalmeans (e.g., laws), it may not be necessary to rely heavily on normativecontrols.However, as women gain greatersocial statusand to independence,relianceon normativecontrolsbecomes moreimportant maintain and levels. In otherwords,as women's at structural interpersonal genderinequality status in society is enhanced,there is likely to be a greaterreliance on normative controls via value constructssuch as the beautyideal. In this study,we explorewhetherthe beautyideal has diminished,intensified,or remainedstableover time in children'sfairytales. If the femininebeautyideal operates as a type of normativesocial control, we would expect to see an increased emphasis on beauty in these tales as women's legal, economic, and social status we improves.In particular, wouldpredictgreateremphasison women'sbeautydurthe latterpartof the twentiethcentury,comparedto earlierperiods, as women ing have gainedgreaterlegal andeconomic power(FlexnerandFitzpatrick1996). This is not to suggest thatwomen'sprogresshas been uncontestedor consistentoverthe twentiethcenturyor thatall women have enjoyedimprovedstatus.Indeed,research on issues such as women's poverty,the devaluationof women's work, and sexual victimization suggests that conditions for many women, especially women of color, immigrant women, and poor women, have remained relatively stagnant (Bianchi 1999; Russo 2001; Williams 2000). Unquestionably,the group that has reaped the most benefits is white, heterosexual,middle- and upper-classwomen (Sorensen 1991; Williams 2000). For these women, legal, economic, and social conditionshave tendedto improve,especially since the 1970s. Notably,this is precisely the groupof women to whom the femininebeautyideal is directedandthatis depicted in children'sfairy tales. THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE Culturalproductsembodysocietal values andprovidea meansto observe shifts in suchvalues (Schudson 1989). One of the most useful sets of culturalproductsfor investigatingculturalmotifs and values is children's stories, which accordingto Bettelheim(1962) area majormeansby which childrenassimilateculture.Accordand ing to Pescosolido, Grauerholz, Milkie (1997, 444), "theintendedclarityand moralcertaintywith which adultsprovidechildrenwith tales of theirworld offer a fortuitousopportunityto examine social relationsand belief systems."Children's literature especially useful for studyingvalueconstructssuch as the beautyideal. is restrictionprevails,one is likely to Fox (1977, 807) suggestedthatwherenormative that "findan elaborationof socializationstructures conduce towardthe internalization"of suchvalues. Thus,we would expectto findthese valuesexpressedin media, especially those marketedtowardchildren.

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Research since the early 1970s has shown that children's literaturecontains explicit and implicit messages about dominantpower structuresin society, especially those concerning gender (Clark, Lennon, and Morris 1993; Crabb and and Bielawski 1994;Kortenhaus Demarest1993;Weitzmanet al. 1972). Fairytales writtenduringthe eighteenthand nineteenthcenturieswere intendedto teach girls and young women how to become domesticated,respectable,and attractiveto a genderedvalues and attimarriagepartnerand to teach boys and girls appropriate tudes (Zipes 1988a, 1988b). But these messages arenot static. Children'smedia have been found to be powerfully responsive to social change and not simply in a way that mirrorssociety. Researchby Pescosolido, Grauerholz, Milkie (1997) foundthatduringperiods and of intense racial conflict and significant political gains by African Americans, Black characters virtuallydisappearedfromchildren'sbooks. They suggestedthat children'smediaboth reflect and are shapedby shifting social and power relations for among groups.As such, it is possible to study children'sliterature insight into and social struggles over time. political important In the presentstudy,we investigatethe genderedmessages concerningfeminine beautyas containedin children'smedia. We chose a classic set of children'sliterature-fairy tales written by the Grimm brothers in the nineteenth century-to investigatethe extent to which the pervasivenessof the feminine beauty ideal has shiftedover time. These tales were originallyused as primersfor relativelyaffluent Europeanchildren and served to impart moral lessons to them (Zipes 1988a). Today,these tales, at least those thatsurvivedinto the twentiethcentury,arereadby childrenacross varioussocial class andracialgroups (Zipes 1997), while continuing to contain symbolic imagery that legitimates existing race, class, and gender systems. We first documentthe prominenceof a feminine beauty ideal and the ways in whichbeautyis presentedin these tales. Ourmainconcern,however,is not whether these fairy tales contain stereotypicimages (they do) but ratherwhetherwomen's role in fairy tales duringcertaintime peribeautyappearsto play a more important as a means of normativesocial control.Thus, we document ods, possibly serving in whichtales have survived(i.e., were reproduced books andfilms) into thetwentieth centuryand whetherthose that survivedplaced greateremphasis on women's we beautythan those thatdid not survive. Furthermore, examine the time periods when tales were reproduced.If normativesocial control is more critical during timeswhen manywomenhavegainedgreatersocial power,we wouldexpecta large increase in reproductionsof tales that focus on women's beauty duringthe latter half of the twentiethcentury. in Of course,we wouldexpect some variation the numberof reproductions given in the children'sbook publishing industryduringthe twentieth century. changes Whenpublishinghouses firstestablishedseparatechildren'ssections around1920, there was an increase in the productionof children's books (Tebbel 1978). The 1930s and 1940s saw some decline in sales, althoughit was duringthis time period (1932) that Western Printing and Lithographing Company-the largest

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lithographiccompanyandpublisherof children'sbooks in the world-entered into an exclusive contractwith WaltDisney Inc. to produceits books (Gottlieb 1978; Tebbel 1978). Children'sbook publishingincreasedsignificantlyduringthe 1950s and 1960s, as the baby boom marketincreasedsales andinterestin children'sreading, andfederalaid was madeavailablefor librarymaterials(Gottlieb 1978; Turow 1978). Finally, by the 1970s, the growth in children's book publishing subsided (Gottlieb 1978). of In the presentstudy,we arenot interestedin whetherreproductions tales follow these general patternsbut in whether those tales that highlight a feminine beauty ideal actually had increased reproductionsduring periods when normative control would be more necessary, such as since the 1970s. This study represents one of the few attemptsto analyze long-termchanges in children'sliterature of andthe only one to offer a historicalanalysisof thereproduction a beautyideal in tales. As such, it providescriticalinsight into ways in which children'sliterafairy ture has been shapedby political and social forces over time and yet continuesto provide traditionalgenderedprescriptionsfor children. DATA AND METHOD The dataused in this studyarebased on writtentexts containedin TheComplete by Fairy Talesof the BrothersGrimm(Grimmand Grimm 1992), translated Jack of experton and translator folk andfairytales. The Zipes, a leading contemporary and used in this studyis based on the seventhedition of Children Housetranslation hold Tales, published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1857, and contains 250 tales. Tales were excluded from our analysis if they contained only nonhumans, into simple rhymes,or shortdescriptionsbut no storyor had neverbeen translated until the 1990s. Thus, our data representthe populationof Grimms'fairy English and tales (N = 168) thatcontainhumancharacters storiesandwere availablein English in the 1800s. To The unit of analysis is the tale, and each tale was coded by Baker-Sperry. check for reliability,a subsetof tales (20) was coded by two separatecoders-one womanandone man-who werefamiliarwith the goals of this research.The agreement among coders for each variableused in the study was 90 percentor higher. Toexplorethe prevalenceof the femininebeautyideal in these tales, information was obtainedfromeach taleconcerningthe numberof times female ormale characters arereferredto as beautiful,pretty,fairest,or handsome.Althoughwe were not of specificallyconcernedwith variationsby age, the doublestandard aging (Sontag 1976) and culturalassociationsof beauty with youth would lead us to expect that the age (as well as gender) of a characterwould shape messages aboutattractiveness. Thus, we coded the numberof references to "beauty"for younger women, younger men, older women, and older men (younger women/men include both young adults and children). Finally, because "beauty"is so gender specific, we sought an overall measure of the relative importanceof physical appearancefor

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We male andfemale characters. obtainedinformationon the numberof references which includedreferenceto any aspectof his to a character's physical appearance, or her body, looks, clothing, and so forth (e.g., body type, attractiveness, physical strength,eye color). These data were coded separatelyby genderbut not age. First,simple descriptivestatisticswere computedto explorethe extentto which a femininebeautyideal is evidentin these tales andwhetherit differsby group.That is, we explore the extent to which there are more referencesto women's physical appearanceor men's physical appearance,and the same for women's beauty and men's handsomeness (for readability, throughoutthis article we use the term womento referto both girls andwomen andmento referto bothboys andmen). We also comparethe averagenumberof referencesto physicalbeautybetweenyounger men and younger women and between older women and younger women. To explore cultural associations with beauty,we asked several general questions, such as, "Istherea clear link between beautyand goodness?"(yes/no), "Are there instances where dangeror harm is associated with beauty or desirability?" (yes/no), and,if so, "Isbeautyor desirabilitythe cause?"(yes/no). Such questions, however,cannot tap the subtle but powerful messages surrounding beauty.Thus, we also employed qualitativediscourse analysis (van Dijk 1985) to examine such associations with beauty. Discourse analysis allows for the identificationof patternsor themes, along with variations(Straussand Corbin 1998). In our analysis, severalpatternsemerged,includingthe associationsbetweenbeautyandeconomic privilege, beauty and race, beauty and goodness, and beauty and danger.We provide excerpts from varioustales obtainedthroughthe discourse analysis to illustratesuch more subtle messages aboutbeautyportrayedin these tales. Finally, to determine which tales had survived since the mid-1800s, we tale consultednumeroussourcesto documentwhethera particular survivedin the form of a book or film. Eighteenprimarysources,such as Bowker'sBooks in Print Indexto the BaldwinLibraryofBooks in English (http://www.booksinprint.com/), 1900 Primarilyfor Children(Baldwin Library 1981), and Media Review before Digest (MediaReview Digest 2002), were consultedto documentwhethera particular Grimms'fairy tale had been reproducedin book or film from the time of its date translator/narrator, of publicapublicationin 1857 to 2000. Title, illustrator, tion, andpublisherwere codedfor each tale listedin these references.We theneliminated duplicatesfrom those coded. Fromthese sources, informationon the numberof times a tale had been reproduced(in a children'sbook, video, or film) was obtained.This variablerangedfrom 0 to 332. Regressionanalysis was used to determinewhetherthe numberof references to women's or men's appearance, beauty,or handsomenessin a tale is related To to how manytimes a tale has been reproduced. correctfor skewness,the dependentvariablewas logged. Touse all tales, includingthose thathadneverbeenreproduced (andthereforehad a value of 0), the value of 1 was addedto all originalenuBecause the log of I is 0, the value for tales thathadnot merationsof reproduction. was been reproduced still 0 butcould be includedin the analysis.We also controlled for numberof pages becausereferencesto physicalbeautyarelikely to be relatedto

Grauerholz BEAUTYIN FAIRYTALES 717 / Baker-Sperry,

the length of the tale (i.e., longer tales are more likely to elaborateon physical attributes). We exploredwhetherotherfactorsmightexplainthe survivalof tales. In particular,we coded whethera tale containeda romantictheme (yes/no), women's victimization(yes/no), men's victimization(yes/no), orbothtypes of violence (0 = no victimization, 1 = men's or women's victimization only, and 2 = both men's and women's victimization in tale). of Finally,to determinewhetherthe reproduction tales variedoverthe twentieth we examineddescriptivedataon reproductions six time periods:before for century, 1900, 1901 to 1920, 1921 to 1940, 1941 to 1960, 1961 to 1980, and 1981 to 2000. To determine statistically whether tales that glorify women's beauty were more likely to have been reproducedin the latterperiods than those thatdo not, we created a variabletime period thatranges from 0 to 6 and representsthe time period when most reproductionsoccurred(0 = never reproduced,1 = before 1900, 2 = 1901-20, etc.). If a tale was reproducedan equal numberof times in two or more betweentime periperiods,the mean value was assignedfor thatcase. Correlations od andnumberof times beauty,handsomeness,and appearance were mentionedin a tale were then analyzed. FINDINGS and PhysicalAppearance Beautyin FairyTales Thereis frequentmentionof characters' (theirlooks, phyphysical appearances siques, clothing, etc.) in these fairy tales, andthis is trueregardlessof theirgender or age (see Table 1). For instance, 94 percentof the tales make some mention of physical appearance,and the average numberof times per story is 13.6 (among those stories that have at least one mention, the averageis 14.5). Thereis no substantivegenderdifferencein the numberof times physical appearance mentioned is numberof times thatphysical appearance mentionedin referenceto is (the average men is 6.0 andfor women is 7.6), butthereis a notabledifferencein therangeof references for men and women. The numberof referencesto men's physical appearance ranges from 0 to 35 per story,whereasthe range for women is 0 to 114. More detailedexaminationof physicalbeauty/handsomeness genderandage by reveals some interestingpatterns.Table 1 indicates that women's beauty is highand lighted more thanmen's attractiveness thatbeautyplays a moredominantrole for youngerwomen thanfor olderones. Overall,thereareapproximately times five morereferencesto women's beautyper tale thanto men's handsomeness(the average numberof referencesto women is 1.25 and 0.21 for referencesto men's handsomeness). The average numberof references to younger women's beauty in all tales (1.17) outnumbersthose of younger men (0.20), older women (0.08), and older men (0.02) combined.Althoughthe actualnumberof referencesto younger women's beautyis not all thatgreat,what is strikingis the way in which women's

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TABLE1: Average Number of References to Physical Appearance and Beauty/ Handsomeness by Character's Gender and Age for All Books
All Tales (N = 168)

Reference Women'sappearance Men'sappearance Women'sbeauty Men'shandsomeness women's beauty Younger Olderwomen'sbeauty Youngermen's handsomeness Oldermen's handsomeness

n 7.56 6.00 1.25 0.21 1.17 0.08 0.20 0.02

SD 14.31 7.10 2.53 0.56 2.11 0.65 0.55 0.11

beautyis mentioned.Forinstance,in ThePink Flower a maidenis describedas "so beautifulthat no paintercould ever have made her look more beautiful"(Grimm andGrimm1992, 286), andin TheGoose Girl at the Springa young womanis said to be "so beautiful that the entire world considered her a miracle"(Grimm and Grimm 1992, 566). Of the tales thatcontainyoungerwomen, 57 percentdescribedthem as "pretty," or and "beautiful," "thefairest," on averagethereare 1.74 referencesto theirbeauty. 5.2 percentof tales that containolder women make referenceto By contrast,only theirbeauty,with the averagenumberof referencesto older women's beautybeing 0.14. For male characters, 18.3 percent of the tales that contain younger men describe them as "handsome" (averagenumberof referenceswas 0.25). Only 1.7 of the tales with oldermen characters describethem as handsome(average percent numberof referencesis 0.02). to Discourseanalysesrevealseveralthemesin relationship beauty.Oftenthereis a clear link between beauty and goodness, most often in reference to younger women, and between ugliness and evil (31 percentof all stories associate beauty with goodness, and 17 percentassociateugliness with evil). MotherHolle incorpoone ratesboth of these themes.The storybegins, "Awidow had two daughters, who was beautifuland industrious,the otherugly and lazy" (Grimmand Grimm 1992, 96). As the tale unfolds, both daughtershave the opportunityto work for Mother Holle. While staying with Mother Holle, the beautiful and industriousdaughter admittedthat she was homesick: that to Mother Holleresponded....Shetookthe "I'm home," pleased youwant return When wasopened themaiden it and maiden thehandandledherto a largedoor. by an of the shower goldcamepouring wasstanding rightbeneath doorway, enormous covered withit. to down,andall thegold stuck herso thatshebecame completely said "Iwant tohavethisbecause havebeensoindustrious," Mother Holle. you you and 1992,97) (Grimm Grimm

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When the ugly, lazy daughterbegan her work for MotherHolle, all did not go as well: an to and Hollewhentheold Onthefirstdayshemade effort workhard obeyMother of told to On woman herwhat do,forthethought goldwasonhermind. thesecond day evenmore. SoonMother ... Holle shestarted and loafing, onthethird sheloafed day her The was tired thisanddismissed maiden of the from service. lazymaiden became that quitehappyto go andexpected now the showerof gold wouldcome.Mother was beneath doorway, big the a but Holleledherto thedoor, as themaiden standing downon herheadinstead gold.... Thepitchdidnot of kettleof pitchcamepouring and and on comeoff themaiden remained heras longas shelived.(Grimm Grimm 1992,99) Thus, while beauty is often rewarded,lack of beauty is punished. Anothertheme identified throughthe discourse analysis, as evidenced by the exampleof MotherHolle, is thatbeauty is sometimes linkedto race and class. The in "lazy"daughter MotherHolle is coveredin (black)pitch.In TheWhiteBrideand with blacknessandugliness. the BlackBride,the motheranddaughterare"cursed" and Manytales connotegoodness with industriousness, bothwith beauty,andcharactersare "rewarded" theirhardwork (Cinderellais anotherclassic example). for In this way,beautybecomes associatednot only with goodness butalso with whiteness and economic privilege. Althoughbeautyis oftenrewardedin Grimms'tales, it is also a sourceof danger. Of the tales in which dangeror harmis associatedwith physical attractiveness (28 percentof all tales), 89 percentinvolve harmto women. Fortypercentof these acts of victimization are the direct result of the character'sphysical appearance.For instance, there are examples of women who must flee or disguise themselves for protectionbecause they are so beautiful. Such was the case for the princessin All Fur who was "so beautifulthat her equal could not be found anywhereon earth" (GrimmandGrimm1992, 258). She was forcedto runawayfromthe castle because her father"fell passionatelyin love with her and said to his councillors, 'I'm going to marrymy daughter'" (Grimmand Grimm 1992, 260). Finally,in 17 percentof the stories therearelinks between beautyandjealousy. These issues almost exclusively concern female characters.Snow White offers strong messages concerning competition among women and the importanceof another woman,who beautyfor women:"Whena yearhadpassed,the king married was beautifulbut proudand haughty,and she could not tolerateanyone else who might rival her beauty"(Grimmand Grimm 1992, 196). The murderousactions remindreadersof the symbolic lengthssome women go to takenby the stepmother maintainor acquirebeauty. In sum, messages concerning feminine beauty pervade these fairy tales. Althoughthe tales arenot devoidof referencesto men's beauty,orhandsomeness,it is women's beauty that is emphasized in terms of the numberof references to beauty,the ways it is portrayed,and the role feminine beautyplays in moving the story along.

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TABLE 2: References to Beauty/Handsomeness/Physical Appearance, by Gender, in Tales according to Times Reproduced All Tales Ever Reproduced
Reference (n = 43)

Tales Reproduced 101 or More Times

(n = 5)

Tales Reproduced Between 1 and 100 Times

(n = 38)

Tales Never Reproduced

(n = 125)

Women'sappearance Men'sappearance Women'sbeauty Men'shandsomeness

11.30 8.00 2.11 0.37

33.80 2.60 7.20 0

8.60 8.70 1.50 0.41

6.15 5.20 0.93 0.15

SocialReproduction the Feminine of BeautyIdeal Of the 168 tales analyzed,43 (25.6 percent)havebeen reproducedin children's books or movies. The most frequentlyreproducedtale is Cinderella,for which 332 reproductionswere recorded.In fact, just 5 fairy tales-Cinderella, Snow White, Briar Rose (also known as Sleeping Beauty), LittleRed Cap (also known as Little Red RidingHood), and Hansel and Gretel-constitute more thantwo-thirds(72.7 percent)of all reproductions. There are many more references to women's physical appearancesin reproducedversusnonreproduced tales (11.3 vs. 6.15), andthis is somewhattruefor referencesto men's physical appearance vs. 5.2) (see Table2). In termsof beauty, (8.0 the averagenumberof referencesto women's beautyin those tales thathave been reproduced is 2.11 for women, which is more than twice the number in tales (0.93) andmuchhigherthanthe averagenumberof references nonreproduced tales (0.37) andnonreproduced tales (0.15). to men's handsomenessin reproduced Table 2 groups tales accordingto the numberof times they have been reproduced. Interestingly,of the top five most reproducedtales-those that have been reproducedmore than 100 times-there are two exceptions to the "beautyrule": were docuLittleRed Cap or LittleRed RidingHood, for which 227 reproductions and Hansel and Gretel,which trails the othertales at 143 reproductions. mented, Thereareno referencesto women'sor men's beautyin Hansel and GretelandLittle Red Cap. In fact, in Hansel and Gretelthere are morereferencesto men's appearance (8) thanwomen's appearance When analysesareconductedonjust the top (5). three most reproducedtales, which eliminates Little Red Cap and Hansel and are Gretel,the referencesto women'sbeautyandwomen'sappearance muchhigher referencesto beautyfor the top threevs. 7.2 for the top five; 41.7 referencesto (12 for appearance the top threevs. 33.8 for the top five) andthose referencesfor men's decline (0.67 for topthreevs. 2.6 for top five). Note thatthereareno refappearance erences to men's handsomenessin any of the top five tales. Because references to men's handsomenessand older women's beauty are so low (e.g., 98.8 percentof all tales have no mentionof older men's handsomeness),

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TABLE 3: Regression of Number of Reproductions (Logged) on Women's Beauty/ Men's Handsomeness and Women's/Men'sPhysical Appearance, Controllingfor Page Length Unstandardized Regression Coefficient Equation1 Women'sbeauty Pages Constant 2 Equation Men'shandsomeness Pages Constant 3 Equation Women'sphysicalappearance Pages Constant 4 Equation Men'sphysicalappearance Pages Constant StandardError of Estimate Significance .001 ns ns ns ns ns .01 ns ns ns ns ns

.146 .031 .255 .099 .079 .221 .020 .033 .282 -.005 .086 .240

.039 .043 .196 .176 .043 .205 .007 .046 .201 .014 .045 .207

we combined older and youngermen, and older and younger women, to perform to the regressionanalyses. Preliminaryanalyses suggested that it was appropriate do so since there is no interactioneffect between age and gender with respect to or appearance beauty. The resultspresentedin Table3 indicatethateven aftercontrollingfor length of the tale, referencesto women's beautyare associatedwith the likelihoodthata tale has been reproduced manytimes, as is the numberof referencesto women's physiFor cal appearance. men, physical handsomenessand appearanceare not signifinor cantly relatedto a tale's reproduction, is length of a tale. We explored alternativefactors that may help account for tales' reproduction, such as themes of romanticlove or victimization.We found thateven aftercontrolling the regression analysis for tales that have a romantictheme, the numberof times women'sbeautyis mentionedin a tale remainsstronglyrelatedto the number of times it has been reproduced,as does women's physical appearance.Furthermore,thereis a moderatebivariatecorrelationbetweenwomen's victimizationand numberof reproductions(.202), but women's victimizationbecomes nonsignifiis cantwhen numberof reproductions regressedon women's beauty,women's victimization,andpages (andwomen's beautyremainssignificant).The generalpresence of violence or men's victimizationwas not linked to reproductions. over time revealsan interestingpattern.The vast Examinationof reproductions majorityof tales were reproducedin the latter partof the twentieth century.For before 1900 was 4.07 (SD = 10.32) instance,the averagenumberof reproductions true versus24.79 between 1981 and 2000 (SD = 51.72). This is particularly for the

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most reproducedtales. For instance, there were 46 reproductionsof Cinderella before 1900,5 or 6 for each of the time periodsbetween 1901 and 1960,42 between 1961 and 1980, and 227 between 1981 and 2000. When we correlatedtime period in which tales were most often reproduced(which ranges from 0 to 6) with menwe tions of beauty,handsomeness,and physical appearance, found no significant correlationbetween physical appearanceand time, for men or women. However, the numberof mentionsof women's beautyis significantlycorrelatedwith a larger in numberof reproductions the latesttime period(r = .159), andthe same is truefor mentionsof men's handsomeness(r = .203). In fact, all but one tale thatmentiona man being handsomewere reproducedmost often in the latterperiod. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Not surprisingly, among the manymessages containedin fairy tales, those concerningthe importanceof femininebeauty,especially for youngerwomen, areparor amount.Young women are more often describedas "beautiful;" "pretty," "fair" thanare older women or thanmen of any age are describedas handsome.Furthermore, beauty is often associated with being white, economically privileged, and virtuous.Fairy tales, like other media (Currie 1997), convey messages about the prominentin stories importanceof feminine beautynot only by making"beauties" how beautygets its rewards.So ingrainedis the image of butalso in demonstrating women's beautyin fairy tales thatit is difficultto imagine any thatdo not highlight feminist retellings of and glorify it. Recent Disney films and even contemporary popularfairy tales often involve women who differ from their earliercounterparts in ingenuity,activity,and independencebut not physical attractiveness. in Severalof the tales have been reproduced books andmovies since theirorigithe nal publication.Ourfindings suggestthatthose thathavebeen reproduced most (CinderellaandSnow White)arepreciselythe ones thatpromotea femininebeauty ideal. Tales that make frequentreference to physical appearanceand beauty for women are likely to have been reproduced.Even aftercontrolling for length of a are tale, referencesto feminine beautyandwomen's physicalappearance relatedto the numberof times a tale is reproduced.However,the same is not truefor men. Our findings furthersuggest that attentionto attractivenessmay have become increasinglyprevalentover the past century.Tales thatwere reproducedmostly in the latterpart of the twentieth centurytend to make more mentions of women's beautyand men's handsomeness,which is consistentwith earlierstudiesthathave in foundan increasedemphasison physicalattractiveness the late twentiethcentury for men (Berger,Wallis, and Watson 1995). In fact, of the 11 tales thathave been reproducedand mention men's handsomeness, 10 were reproducedmost often in the last time period. This finding suggests that both men and women are being increasingly manipulatedby media messages concerning attractiveness,a trend linkedto effortsto boost consumerism.This trenddoes not necthatis undoubtedly essarily contradicta social controlperspectivethatsuggests such messages should

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be directed more towardwomen than men. We found that messages concerning women's beauty are far more dominantthan those for men. Only 2 of the reproduced tales that mention men's handsomeness are fairly popular (Rapunzeland Puss and Boots), and each makes only one mentionof men's handsomeness.Passing mentionsof men's handsomenessin these 11 tales simply do not compareto the tales in which women's beauty is glorified and in which beauty,for beauty's sake, plays a majorrole in the story, as in Cinderella or Snow White.Thus, while there does appear to be an increased emphasis on men's handsomeness along with women's beautyin the late twentiethcentury,thereremainsa profounddifference in the prevalenceand persistence of messages concerningattractivenessfor men and for women, which is consistent with a social controlperspective. Clearly, beauty is not the only reason certain tales have survived. Some tales become popular during particularhistorical periods because they resonant so deeply with individuals'and societies' economic, social, or political strugglesdurmuchof the success of certaintales can be ing these times (Zipes 1988b). Certainly, to attributed the work of WaltDisney. For instance, the threetop tales had all been made into Disney movies before 1960 and have enjoyed continuedpopularity. We were not able, however,to determineany otherclearlinksbetween survivalof a tale andthemes. Mentionsof women's beautyare far morelikely to be linkedto reproductionsthan are otherpopularculturalmotifs such as victimizationor romance. We suggest thatthis emphasison a feminine beautyideal may operateas a normativesocial controlfor girls andwomen. The fact thatwomen's beautyis particularly salient in tales in the latterpartof the twentiethcenturysuggests thatnormative social controls (such as internalization a feminine beauty ideal) may have of become increasinglyimportant overthe course of the twentiethcenturyas external constraintson women's lives diminished.We do not proposethat thereis a direct relationshipbetween cultural values concerning feminine beauty and women's behaviorand identities,but the feminine beauty ideal may operateindirectlyas a means of social control insofar as women's concern with physical appearance (beauty) absorbs resources (money, energy, time) that could otherwise be spent withdrawfrom or never enhancingtheir social status. Women may "voluntarily" activities or occupations they fear will make them appear "unattractive" pursue (e.g., "hardlabor,"competitive sports).The competitionwomen may feel toward other women over physical appearancemay limit their ability to mobilize as a group.In these ways, the focus on andglorificationof femininebeautyin children's via fairytales may representa meansby which genderinequalityis reproduced culturalproducts. One limitationof our studyis thatwe cannotdeterminethe extentto which messages concerningfemininebeautyfoundin fairytales havein fact been internalized orby whom. Nor do we know whethercontemporary childrenreadfairytalesin the sameway as theirmothersor grandmothers especiallyin termsof internalizing did, messages aboutbeauty.Currie(1997) did find thateven very young andadolescent girls areawareof how theirown bodies fail to live up to the ideal andexpressstrong desiresto conformto this ideal. Of course,we do not claim thatfairytales aresolely

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or even largelyresponsiblefor instilling such beliefs. Whatseems clear is thatmesoften, sages in the Grimms'fairy tales, especially those thathave been reproduced are consistent with othermessages women and girls receive aboutthe importance of feminine beauty.And they convey this message in a particularly powerfulway, associationsbetweenbeautyandgoodness andrewards.Furtherby drawingstrong more, the emphasis on beauty has remainedstrong and seemingly has increased duringa period of time when many women have achieved greatereconomic and legal status. The notion of normative social control raises questions about who makes choices about publishing children'sbooks and why. Turow's(1978) researchon publishinghouses found thatmost publishersclaim to make choices based on the of book's quality,reputation the author,andmarketconsiderationandthatpublishoutlets (which characers in the mass market-which marketbooks to nonlibrary terizemost of the books analyzedhere)-are sensitive to the preferencesandtastes of their clientele (i.e., buyers for discount, department,and book stores). Surely individualsmakingdecisions aboutwhich books to publishare unawareor uncona cernedthatbooks based on Grimms'fairytales highlightandperpetuate feminine is ideal. Whatthey probablyunderstand thatcertainfairytales havebecome beauty nearlymythic and enjoy wide appeal(and a large market).Thus, thereprobablyis certainmesto no "conspiracy" control girls' and women's lives by perpetuating but if Zipes (1988b) was correct that "fairy tales do not become mythic sages, unless they are in almost perfect accordwith the underlyingprinciplesof how the male membersof society seek to arrange object relationsto satisfy theirwantsand needs," then these cultural products certainly reflect and legitimate hegemonic beliefs surrounding genderandfemininebeauty.Thus,thesebooks andothermedia that glorify feminine beauty may or may not be intended to redirect girls' and culturalvaluesandrepwomen's attentionto theirlooks, buttheydo reflectbroader resentpartof a largergenderimagerythathelps to maintainandlegitimatethe institution of gender (Lorber1994). is Althoughwe do not subscribeto the idea that a "conspiracy" at work among to "dupe" andwomen into adoptingsubservientbehaviorsandvalgirls publishers ues by intentionallypublishing and reproducingthose texts that emphasize and even glorify sexist values, the impact of such messages is likely to have the same effect. Children'smediacan be a powerfulmechanismby which childrenlearnculturalvalues. Throughthe proliferationof fairy tales in the media, girls (andboys) are taught specific messages concerning the importanceof women's bodies and The messages presentedin the Grimms'tales portraydifwomen's attractiveness. for means of statusattainment women andfor men, especially white, heterofering sexual women. The pervasivenessof fairy tales in our society, throughbooks and movies, suggests that there are many opportunitiesfor these messages to become internalized. Of course, the effect of media on behavioris not clear (Currie1997). As with other literature,children'smedia should not be viewed simply as gender scripts. Children(or theirparents,throughtheirreadingsof the texts to children)have the

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ability to use these texts to challenge or "rewrite"these scripts (stories). Zipes (1988b, 191) suggested thatby a into to unusual elements thefairytale... thechildis compelled shatter introducing the of of uniform certain reception fairytales,to re-examine elements the classical and it and their tales,andto reconsider function meaning whether mightnotbebetter to alterthem. is into The recentfilm Shrek,whose main womancharacter ultimatelytransformed an ogre ratherthanthe beautifulmaidenshe was believed to be, may begin to challenge the value and meaning of women's beauty.But such retellings of fairy tales arerare,andthe cumulativeeffect of the moretraditional tales, in conjunctionwith the unidirectional nature of media, makes such agency difficult. Indeed, the controlsis thatso few questionor of "beauty" messages thatmay serveas normative challenge their legitimacy. REFERENCES
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is Lori Baker-Sperry an assistant professor of women's studies at WesternIllinois University. Her currentresearchinterests include the intersectionoffeminist theoryand popular culture, particularly as it applies to childrenand adolescents. Her researchfocuses Liz Grauerholzis an associate professorof sociology at PurdueUniversity. on the intersectionsbetweengender andpower,especially as revealedin classroominteractions and media.