Disney do it again

And by "It" I mean hyper sexualise one of its female characters and send a bad message to young girls watching.

Disney have sexed up Merida, the protagonist of Pixar's Brave in an attempt to sell more merchandise:

Picture from here

Yeah, it is in no way creepy at all. Let's not forget the character is only about sixteen to boot. Disney have a long standing tradition of vamping up its leading ladies in a perverse attempt to appeal to an audience of young girls. A petition has been launched to change the character design back to it's original form stating:

"The redesign of Merida in advance of her official induction to the Disney Princess collection does a tremendous disservice to the millions of children for whom Merida is an empowering role model who speaks to girls' capacity to be change agents in the world rather than just trophies to be admired. Moreover, by making her skinnier, sexier and more mature in appearance, you are sending a message to girls that the original, realistic, teenage-appearing version of Merida is inferior; that for girls and women to have value – to be recognised as true princesses – they must conform to a narrow definition of beauty."

While Brenda Chapman who designed the character said:

When little girls say they like it because it's more sparkly, that's all fine and good but, subconsciously, they are soaking in the sexy 'come-hither' look and the skinny aspect of the new version. It's horrible!

From here 

The redesign takes away everything that was endearing about the character in the first place. It was refreshing to see a female character who could hold her own and had skills beyond being able to charm animals into doing household chores for her with her singing voice (not that that doesn't have it's uses). In the same way Belle from Beauty and the Beast was refreshing because she was more interested in reading and learning than finding a husband, Merida had a totally different set of priorities and the entire point of the film was her fighting for the right to her independence and the right to marry whoever she chooses or to not mary at all.

Read this article over at Hello Giggles for more!