The news that an American actress was going to become ‘A Princess’ got all kinds of hearts aflutter this morning.
It got some irony bubbling away too.
A lot of those hearts belonged to some very good female reporters who had just been working at the top of their profession and professional abilities to report the very complex story of sexual harassment in all facets of American Life. And then, having focused their laser-like attention on how DEEPLY ROOTED such sexism is in our culture, they turned their attention then TO BECOMING A PRINCESS…
I can’t think of a single female reporter who shrugged at the Royal Engagement Story. And that’s weird. If you really think about it (as you know we will) — it’s downright ABSURD…
A princess never has power — not REAL POWER. She’s always beholden to someone else (most often a MALE — a KING or a PRINCE) to do practically anything. It doesn’t matter how perky or pithy or petulent she is — a Princess has no power.
But, if a Princess is ‘lucky’, she’ll get to be Queen. An improvement over Princess but still not the Real Power. That would be the King. Now — if the King dies — then the Queen has a shot — but only as a Plan B for a King.
And the attention paid to the goddamned ring… L A D I E S — STOP!
The whole ‘put a ring on it’ thing didn’t drop on human beings from the sky. We INVENTED the ritual. Now ask yourselves: WHY?
What did the ring originally symbolize? OWNERSHIP!
Now, you can say all you like that that was then and this is now — that you just like the ritual of it all — and men can get rings too.
Fabulous. You’re STILL ignoring the fact that the Ring SYMBOLIZES OWNERSHIP — of a man over a woman; more specifically THAT WOMAN’S WOMB. The ring indicated an understanding — that the woman wearing that ring belonged to the man who put it on her finger. That HER WOMB belonged to him.
Just because you deny or ignore a symbol doesn’t make the symbol go away. And it certainly doesn’t do anything to demolish the culturally entrenched behaviors the symbol has done its share to entrench in the first place.
Can you think of ONE Priincess who had anything like POWER? Princess Diana? Really? Would ANYONE want that for themselves or their daughter? If that’s what being a princess is like, I’ll take being a plebe any day.
Besides — there are far, FAR better things for any woman to be than a princess. President, for instance.