Disney Princess Effect

Stephanie Hanes’ “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect” first appeared in the Christian Science Monitor in 2011. Hanes aims to convince her audience that little girls are being subjected to the hypersexualization of women. With supporting evidence, strategic organization, and a specific purpose and audience, Hanes is able to produce a convincing argument.

Hanes’ purpose is to provide reason to believe that little girls are becoming involved and corrupted with inappropriate ideas of how women should behave and look. Young girls are convinced that they should become a Disney Princess and mothers have found that this idea can lead “down a path of self-objectification to cyberbullying to unhealthy body images”
She uses bullet points to list statistics from recent studies “to understand why parents are uneasy” (483). This use of organization adds emphasis to the information being listed by providing support to the author’s main idea. The audience is able to read the alarming data as to why parents should be concerned with the effect the media has on young minds. Hanes also uses a series of bold headings to divide her argument into related points. By classifying the information under headings, the essay is able to flow in an understanding way. Similar information is grouped together keeping the same ideas connected and leaving out opportunity for repetition. The headings seem to follow a pattern as well. The essay follows a problem-solution pattern. However, the essay ends with a problem. By ending with a problem Hanes leaves the audience with the ability to establish a solution for themselves. The last paragraph, “We can’t sit there and say, ‘Oh, the kids are so messed up’,” she says. “We have to look at ourselves.” (488) creates a chance for the readers to ponder on how they let the media affect their own children. This writing choice allows the audience to reflect back on the content of the essay and how the information relates to their own