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.
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THE PERVASIVENESSAND PERSISTENCE
OF THE FEMININE BEAUTYIDEAL
IN CHILDREN'S FAIRY TALES
LORIBAKER-SPERRY
WesternIllinois University
LIZGRAUERHOLZ
Purdue University
Thisstudyadvances understandingof how a normativefemininebeautyideal is maintainedthroughculturalproductssuch 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
The institutionof genderrelies in parton whatLorber(1994, 30-31) referredto as
genderimagery-"the culturalrepresentationsof genderand embodimentof gender 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.
The presentstudyfocuses on one prominentmessage thatis representedin many
children'sfairy tales: the feminine beauty ideal. The feminine beauty ideal-the
socially constructednotion that physical attractivenessis one of women's most
importantassets, andsomethingall women shouldstriveto achieveandmaintainis of particularinterest to feminist scholars. While the feminine beauty ideal is
viewed largely as an oppressive,patriarchalpracticethatobjectifies,devalues,and
subordinateswomen (e.g., Bartky1990; Bordo 1993; Freedman1986; Wolf 1991),
it is acknowledged that many women willingly engage in "beauty rituals"and
AUTHORS' NOTE: The authors thank Janet Wilmoth,Debra Street, Rachel Einwohner,Susan
Sprecher,and anonymousreviewersfor 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
711
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712
GENDER & SOCIETY / October 2003
perceive being (or becoming) beautifulas empowering,not oppressive (Dellinger
andWilliams 1997). A furtherparadoxof 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
beautypredominatesin 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,
especiallyrelativelyaffluentEuro-Americanwomen who have the resources,time,
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
controlwhereby social control is accomplishedthroughthe internalizationof 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
personalfreedom and laying the "groundworkfor a circumscriptionof women's
potentialfor power and control in the world"(Fox 1977, 816).
Fox (1977, 816) also noted that "normativecontrolguaranteesto 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 attractivenessare psychologically and socially rewarded
(Dellinger and Williams 1997; Hatfield and Sprecher 1986). Adolescent girls in
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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Baker-Sperry, Grauerholz / BEAUTY IN FAIRY TALES
713
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
independence,relianceon normativecontrolsbecomes moreimportantto maintain
genderinequalityat structuralandinterpersonallevels. In otherwords,as women's
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
improves.In particular,we wouldpredictgreateremphasison women'sbeautyduring the latterpartof the twentiethcentury,comparedto earlierperiods, as women
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.According to Pescosolido, Grauerholz,and Milkie (1997, 444), "theintendedclarityand
moralcertaintywith which adultsprovidechildrenwith tales of theirworld offer a
fortuitousopportunityto examine social relationsand belief systems."Children's
literatureis especially useful for studyingvalueconstructssuch as the beautyideal.
Fox (1977, 807) suggestedthatwherenormativerestrictionprevails,one is likely to
"findan elaborationof socializationstructuresthatconduce towardthe internalization"of suchvalues. Thus,we would expectto findthese valuesexpressedin media,
especially those marketedtowardchildren.
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714
GENDER & SOCIETY / October 2003
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
Bielawski 1994;KortenhausandDemarest1993;Weitzmanet al. 1972). Fairytales
writtenduringthe eighteenthand nineteenthcenturieswere intendedto teach girls
and young women how to become domesticated,respectable,and attractiveto a
marriagepartnerand to teach boys and girls appropriategenderedvalues and attitudes (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,andMilkie (1997) foundthatduringperiods
of intense racial conflict and significant political gains by African Americans,
Black charactersvirtuallydisappearedfromchildren'sbooks. They suggestedthat
children'smediaboth reflect and are shapedby shifting social and power relations
among groups.As such, it is possible to studychildren'sliteraturefor insight into
importantpolitical and social struggles over time.
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
beautyappearsto play a more importantrole in fairy tales duringcertaintime periods, possibly serving as a means of normativesocial control.Thus, we document
whichtales have survived(i.e., were reproducedin books andfilms) into thetwentieth centuryand whetherthose that survivedplaced greateremphasis on women's
beautythan those thatdid not survive. Furthermore,we 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.
Of course,we wouldexpect some variationin the numberof reproductionsgiven
changes in the children'sbook publishing industryduringthe twentieth century.
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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Baker-Sperry, Grauerholz / BEAUTY IN FAIRY TALES
715
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).
In the presentstudy,we arenot interestedin whetherreproductionsof 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
andthe only one to offer a historicalanalysisof thereproductionof a beautyideal in
fairy tales. As such, it providescriticalinsight into ways in which children'sliterature 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
Fairy Talesof the BrothersGrimm(Grimmand Grimm 1992), translatedby Jack
Zipes, a leading contemporaryexperton and translatorof folk andfairytales. The
translationused in this studyis based on the seventhedition of ChildrenandHousehold Tales, published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1857, and contains 250
tales. Tales were excluded from our analysis if they contained only nonhumans,
simple rhymes,or shortdescriptionsbut no storyor had neverbeen translatedinto
English until the 1990s. Thus, our data representthe populationof Grimms'fairy
tales (N = 168) thatcontainhumancharactersandstoriesandwere availablein English in the 1800s.
The unit of analysis is the tale, and each tale was coded by Baker-Sperry.To
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
specificallyconcernedwith variationsby age, the doublestandardof 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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716
GENDER & SOCIETY / October 2003
male andfemale characters.We obtainedinformationon the numberof references
to a character'sphysical appearance,which includedreferenceto any aspectof his
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 surroundingbeauty.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
consultednumeroussourcesto documentwhethera particulartale 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
Children
(Baldwin Library 1981), and Media Review
Primarilyfor
before
were
consultedto documentwhethera particReview
2002),
(Media
Digest
Digest
ular Grimms'fairy tale had been reproducedin book or film from the time of its
date of publicapublicationin 1857 to 2000. Title, illustrator,translator/narrator,
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 how manytimes a tale has been reproduced.To correctfor skewness,the dependentvariablewas logged. Touse all tales, includingthose thathadneverbeenreproduced (andthereforehad a value of 0), the value of 1 was addedto all originalenumerationsof reproduction.Because the log of I is 0, the value for tales thathadnot
been reproducedwas still 0 butcould be includedin the analysis.We also controlled
for numberof pages becausereferencesto physicalbeautyarelikely to be relatedto
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Baker-Sperry,Grauerholz/ BEAUTYIN FAIRYTALES 717
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).
Finally,to determinewhetherthe reproductionof tales variedoverthe twentieth
century,we examineddescriptivedataon reproductionsfor six time periods:before
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
periods,the mean value was assignedfor thatcase. Correlationsbetweentime period andnumberof times beauty,handsomeness,and appearancewere mentionedin
a tale were then analyzed.
FINDINGS
PhysicalAppearanceand Beautyin FairyTales
Thereis frequentmentionof characters'physical appearances(theirlooks, physiques, 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 appearanceis mentioned
(the averagenumberof times thatphysical appearanceis mentionedin referenceto
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/handsomenessby genderandage
reveals some interestingpatterns.Table 1 indicates that women's beauty is highlighted more thanmen's attractivenessandthatbeautyplays a moredominantrole
for youngerwomen thanfor olderones. Overall,thereareapproximatelyfive times
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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GENDER & SOCIETY / October 2003
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
n
Women'sappearance
Men'sappearance
Women'sbeauty
Men'shandsomeness
Youngerwomen's beauty
Olderwomen'sbeauty
Youngermen's handsomeness
Oldermen's handsomeness
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,"
"beautiful,"or "thefairest,"andon averagethereare 1.74 referencesto theirbeauty.
By contrast,only 5.2 percentof tales thatcontainolder women make referenceto
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
percentof the tales with oldermen charactersdescribethem as handsome(average
numberof referencesis 0.02).
Discourseanalysesrevealseveralthemesin relationshipto 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 incorporatesboth of these themes.The storybegins, "Awidow had two daughters,one 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:
"I'mpleasedthatyouwanttoreturnhome,"MotherHolleresponded....Shetookthe
maidenby thehandandledherto a largedoor.Whenit wasopenedandthemaiden
wasstandingrightbeneaththedoorway,anenormousshowerof goldcamepouring
down,andall thegold stuckto herso thatshebecamecompletelycoveredwithit.
saidMotherHolle.
"Iwantyoutohavethisbecauseyouhavebeensoindustrious,"
(GrimmandGrimm1992,97)
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Baker-Sperry, Grauerholz / BEAUTY IN FAIRY TALES
719
When the ugly, lazy daughterbegan her work for MotherHolle, all did not go as
well:
Onthefirstdayshemadeaneffortto workhardandobeyMotherHollewhentheold
womantoldherwhattodo,forthethoughtof goldwasonhermind.Onthesecondday
shestartedloafing,andonthethirddaysheloafedevenmore.... SoonMotherHolle
becametiredof thisanddismissedthemaidenfromherservice.Thelazymaidenwas
quitehappyto go andexpectedthatnow the showerof gold wouldcome.Mother
Holleledherto thedoor,butas themaidenwasstandingbeneaththedoorway,a big
kettleof pitchcamepouringdownon herheadinsteadof gold.... Thepitchdidnot
comeoff themaidenandremainedon heras longas shelived.(GrimmandGrimm
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
"lazy"daughterin MotherHolle is coveredin (black)pitch.In TheWhiteBrideand
the BlackBride,the motheranddaughterare"cursed"with blacknessandugliness.
Manytales connotegoodness with industriousness,andbothwith beauty,andcharactersare "rewarded"for theirhardwork (Cinderellais anotherclassic example).
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
beautyfor women:"Whena yearhadpassed,the king marriedanotherwoman,who
was beautifulbut proudand haughty,and she could not tolerateanyone else who
might rival her beauty"(Grimmand Grimm 1992, 196). The murderousactions
takenby the stepmotherremindreadersof the symbolic lengthssome women go to
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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GENDER& SOCIETY/ October2003
TABLE2: References to Beauty/Handsomeness/Physical Appearance, by Gender, in
Tales according to Times Reproduced
All Tales
Ever
Reproduced
Tales
Reproduced
101 or More
Times
Tales
Reproduced
Between
1 and 100 Times
Tales
Never
Reproduced
Reference
(n = 43)
(n = 5)
(n = 38)
(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
SocialReproductionof the FeminineBeautyIdeal
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 reproducedversusnonreproducedtales (11.3 vs. 6.15), andthis is somewhattruefor referencesto men's physical appearance(8.0 vs. 5.2) (see Table2). In termsof beauty,
the averagenumberof referencesto women's beautyin those tales thathave been
reproduced is 2.11 for women, which is more than twice the number in
nonreproducedtales (0.93) andmuchhigherthanthe averagenumberof references
to men's handsomenessin reproducedtales (0.37) andnonreproducedtales (0.15).
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":
LittleRed Cap or LittleRed RidingHood, for which 227 reproductionswere documented, and Hansel and Gretel,which trails the othertales at 143 reproductions.
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(5). When analysesareconductedonjust the top
three most reproducedtales, which eliminates Little Red Cap and Hansel and
Gretel,the referencesto women'sbeautyandwomen'sappearancearemuchhigher
(12 referencesto beautyfor the top threevs. 7.2 for the top five; 41.7 referencesto
appearancefor the top threevs. 33.8 for the top five) andthose referencesfor men's
appearancedecline (0.67 for topthreevs. 2.6 for top five). Note thatthereareno references 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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Baker-Sperry, Grauerholz / BEAUTY IN FAIRY TALES
721
TABLE3: Regression of Number of Reproductions (Logged) on Women's Beauty/
Men's Handsomeness and Women's/Men'sPhysical Appearance,
Controllingfor Page Length
UnstandardizedRegression
Coefficient
Equation1
Women'sbeauty
Pages
Constant
Equation2
Men'shandsomeness
Pages
Constant
Equation3
Women'sphysicalappearance
Pages
Constant
Equation4
Men'sphysicalappearance
Pages
Constant
StandardError
of Estimate
Significance
.146
.031
.255
.039
.043
.196
.001
ns
ns
.099
.079
.221
.176
.043
.205
ns
ns
ns
.020
.033
.282
.007
.046
.201
.01
ns
ns
-.005
.086
.240
.014
.045
.207
ns
ns
ns
we combined older and youngermen, and older and younger women, to perform
the regressionanalyses. Preliminaryanalyses suggested that it was appropriateto
do so since there is no interactioneffect between age and gender with respect to
appearanceor beauty.
The resultspresentedin Table3 indicatethateven aftercontrollingfor length of
the tale, referencesto women's beautyare associatedwith the likelihoodthata tale
has been reproducedmanytimes, as is the numberof referencesto women's physical appearance.For men, physical handsomenessand appearanceare not significantly relatedto a tale's reproduction,nor 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 nonsignificantwhen numberof reproductionsis regressedon women's beauty,women's victimization,andpages (andwomen's beautyremainssignificant).The generalpresence of violence or men's victimizationwas not linked to reproductions.
Examinationof reproductionsover time revealsan interestingpattern.The vast
majorityof tales were reproducedin the latter partof the twentieth century.For
instance,the averagenumberof reproductionsbefore 1900 was 4.07 (SD = 10.32)
versus24.79 between 1981 and 2000 (SD = 51.72). This is particularlytruefor the
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722
GENDER & SOCIETY / October 2003
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 mentions of beauty,handsomeness,and physical appearance,we found no significant
correlationbetween physical appearanceand time, for men or women. However,
the numberof mentionsof women's beautyis significantlycorrelatedwith a larger
numberof reproductionsin 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, areparamount.Young women are more often describedas "beautiful;""pretty,"or "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
importanceof feminine beautynot only by making"beauties"prominentin stories
butalso in demonstratinghow beautygets its rewards.So ingrainedis the image of
women's beautyin fairy tales thatit is difficultto imagine any thatdo not highlight
and glorify it. Recent Disney films and even contemporaryfeminist retellings of
popularfairy tales often involve women who differ from their earliercounterparts
in ingenuity,activity,and independencebut not physical attractiveness.
Severalof the tales have been reproducedin books andmovies since theiroriginal publication.Ourfindings suggestthatthose thathavebeen reproducedthe 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
tale, referencesto feminine beautyandwomen's physicalappearancearerelatedto
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
foundan increasedemphasison physicalattractivenessin 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
thatis undoubtedlylinkedto effortsto boost consumerism.This trenddoes not necessarilycontradicta social controlperspectivethatsuggests such messages should
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Baker-Sperry, Grauerholz / BEAUTY IN FAIRY TALES
723
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 strugglesduring these times (Zipes 1988b). Certainly,muchof the success of certaintales can be
attributedto 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 internalizationof a feminine beauty ideal) may have
become increasinglyimportantoverthe 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
enhancingtheir social status. Women may "voluntarily"withdrawfrom or never
pursue activities or occupations they fear will make them appear "unattractive"
(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
fairytales may representa meansby which genderinequalityis reproducedvia culturalproducts.
One limitationof our studyis thatwe cannotdeterminethe extentto which messages concerningfemininebeautyfoundin fairytales havein fact been internalized
orby whom. Nor do we know whethercontemporarychildrenreadfairytalesin the
sameway as theirmothersor grandmothersdid, especiallyin termsof internalizing
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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724 GENDER
&SOCIETY
/ October2003
or even largelyresponsiblefor instilling such beliefs. Whatseems clear is thatmessages in the Grimms'fairy tales, especially those thathave been reproducedoften,
are consistent with othermessages women and girls receive aboutthe importance
of feminine beauty.And they convey this message in a particularlypowerfulway,
by drawingstrongassociationsbetweenbeautyandgoodness andrewards.Furthermore, 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
book's quality,reputationof the author,andmarketconsiderationandthatpublishers in the mass market-which marketbooks to nonlibraryoutlets (which characterizemost 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 unconcernedthatbooks based on Grimms'fairytales highlightandperpetuatea feminine
beautyideal. Whatthey probablyunderstandis thatcertainfairytales havebecome
nearlymythic and enjoy wide appeal(and a large market).Thus, thereprobablyis
no "conspiracy"to control girls' and women's lives by perpetuatingcertainmessages, but if Zipes (1988b) was correct that "fairy tales do not become mythic
unless they are in almost perfect accordwith the underlyingprinciplesof how the
male membersof society seek to arrangeobject relationsto satisfy theirwantsand
needs," then these cultural products certainly reflect and legitimate hegemonic
beliefs surroundinggenderandfemininebeauty.Thus,thesebooks andothermedia
that glorify feminine beauty may or may not be intended to redirect girls' and
women's attentionto theirlooks, buttheydo reflectbroaderculturalvaluesandrepresentpartof a largergenderimagerythathelps to maintainandlegitimatethe institution of gender (Lorber1994).
Althoughwe do not subscribeto the idea that a "conspiracy"is at work among
publishersto "dupe"girls andwomen into adoptingsubservientbehaviorsandvalues 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
women's attractiveness.The messages presentedin the Grimms'tales portraydifferingmeans of statusattainmentfor women andfor men, especially white, heterosexual women. The pervasivenessof fairy tales in our society, throughbooks and
movies, suggests thatthere 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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Baker-Sperry, Grauerholz / BEAUTY IN FAIRY TALES
725
ability to use these texts to challenge or "rewrite"these scripts (stories). Zipes
(1988b, 191) suggested thatby
unusualelementsintothefairytale... thechildis compelledto shattera
introducing
certainuniformreceptionof fairytales,to re-examinetheelementsof the classical
theirfunctionandmeaningandwhetherit mightnotbebetter
tales,andto reconsider
to alterthem.
The recentfilm Shrek,whose main womancharacteris ultimatelytransformedinto
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 moretraditionaltales, in conjunctionwith
the unidirectional nature of media, makes such agency difficult. Indeed, the
"beauty"of messages thatmay serveas normativecontrolsis thatso few questionor
challenge their legitimacy.
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Lori Baker-Sperryis 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.
Liz Grauerholzis an associate professorof sociology at PurdueUniversity.Her researchfocuses
on the intersectionsbetweengender andpower,especially as revealedin classroominteractions
and media.
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