Something weird I've thought of recently:
Why is it girls are encouraged to be princesses/queens and Disney has princess and queen shows left and right, and lots of parents dress their daughters up as princesses...
...yet I never see boys dressed up as princes or kings. I don't see any shows on Disney (or anywhere for that matter) about boys getting hyped up to dress up as kings and princes.
It's like guys have long given up this ideal that being a king or prince is somewhat "good" and have discarded that idea. In fact most people think of kings as dictators and tyrants... yet the fascination with princesses continues for some reason.
I'm not even saying there's a bad or good reason for this, I'm just trying to understand why most of society thinks of kings and princes as "meh" nowadays, yet for females, being a queen/princess is almost some sort of thing to strive for or roleplay.
Seems like typical roleplay categories for boys are: hero (of various types), villain (also various types), athlete, celebrity, father.
Seems like typical roleplay categories for girls are: heroine (various types), villain (various types), princess, celebrity, mother.
From what I can remember of my own childhood and what I've notices from kids I see around in life, the differences are less substantial than the similarities.
Anyone else wonder about/feel this way or am I artificially influenced by anecdotal evidence?
If you think about it though.. Girls are often raised to be like dictators too. However, I always noticed the clinging to the divine right of kings and dreams of secretly being royalty in tons of stories since I was a kid. And it is often male figures, such as "The Lion King."
There is also the American tabloid obsession with the British Royals.. I think people have yet to move beyond the divine right of Kings and benevolent total power.