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Disney Princesses Are Bad Role Models Who Make Women ‘Hate’ Themselves, ‘GMB’ Guest Argues

Disney princesses are bad role models, award-winning beauty journalist Atah Jewel has argued on an episode of Good Morning Britain.
Credit: Disney & ITV

Disney princesses are bad role models, a guest on Good Morning Britain has argued. 

Atah Jewel, an award-winning beauty journalist, appeared on the daytime TV show and admitted that she grew up ‘hating’ herself because of the cartoon classics.

She explained: “I grew up watching Disney princesses and I also grew up hating my hair, feeling cursed I had darker skin, and I have 10-year-old twin daughters.

Watch the Disney princess debate unfold in the clip below…

“When they were about three when the first Frozen came out, they said to me it was such a shame they couldn’t be princesses as they didn’t have straight ‘yellow’ hair, they could only be maids as they have curly brown hair.

“That’s when I woke up and thought we need to do better and I really had to think about and reset the button on what princesses represent because they didn’t represent my daughters.

“The Frog Princess is the closest thing they have to represent them and she is an animal for most of the film.”

GMB host Susanna Reid then asked Jewel whether or not she believes Disney has become more inclusive over the past few years.

In response, the mum said: “Things are definitely better with the message of rescuing yourselves and sisterhood, but, there is so much more to go.”

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'GMB' guest argues Disney princesses are good role models.
Stephenie Hill argued that ‘princess culture’ is a good thing in the episode of Good Morning Britain. Credit: ITV

However, former Miss United Kingdom winner, Stephanie Hill, argued that children should look up to the Disney princesses shown in films.

“Maybe we should give our children a little bit more credit,” she said. “They are able to distinguish between fiction and reality and understand that these are cartoon characters and although they have quite disproportionate bodies, actually they are taking away the stories of these princess franchises.”

The debate comes after a recent study stated that ‘princess culture’ is actually good for kids, as it allegedly helps them develop progressive views of women.

It was pointed out in the research that Frozen’s Ana and Elsa are dependant on each other and not male characters.

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Written by Aimee Walker

Aimee is a senior content editor at IGV who specialises in finding the best original stories, trending topics and entertainment news. She graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in Media and Communications.