Why love at first sight may not be the stuff of fairy tales
Sensitivity readers for Ladybird flag up ‘beautiful princess’ as problematic
‘Normalising other relationships in books doesn’t take away from the story’
LOVE at first sight was the stuff of fairy tales, once upon a time, but maybe no longer.
Ladybird has used sensitivity readers to re-examine some of its children’s books, and fairy stories have proven problematic, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
The publisher’s back catalogue includes fiction and educational material based on classic tales such as Cinderella and Snow White, and the characters and plots in these stories are understood to be potentially troubling for inclusion experts.
Handsome princes – and beautiful princesses falling for them at first sight – have been deemed problematic by sensitivity readers advising on offensive content, owing to the privilege given to physical attractiveness and heteronormative romance.
Outdated or harmful elements in fairy tales, according to publishing insiders, may also include characters presuming each other’s pronouns or social class, and a lack of diversity among blonde-haired and blue-eyed protagonists.
Ladybird, a Penguinowned imprint that produces books for young children, has not commented on the sensitivity reads, or whether passages will be altered if they contain tropes and descriptions which could be seen as offensive or outdated.
The Telegraph understands from insiders that certain issues in older texts have been raised, in line with principles of equity.
While a commonplace plot device in fairy tales, love at first sight is problematic because the swooning of characters – like Cinderella – before they have spoken to their beloved is provoked by physical attractiveness, and therefore privileges beauty over character traits, and getting to know people.
This may suggest to young readers that the beautiful are entitled to a happy ending, and, depending on the characters falling in love – typically a white, heterosexual man and woman – that only a certain demographic is considered beautiful and worthy of this romantic happiness.
There are further problems with beauty for sensitivity readers, as the stock phrases “handsome prince” and “beautiful princess” make physical attractiveness the defining and most laudable trait of the main characters in fairy tales.
It is feared that these tropes, seen in stories from Rapunzel to Sleeping Beauty, may suggest to children that good looks alone make someone worthy of attention.
The characters’ presumption of gender pronouns at first sight has also been raised as an issue.
It is understood that it is not desirable in texts to have a princess use the term “man” upon seeing a prince for the first time, for example, before the characters have been shown to getting to know one another.
Gender-neutral language is also to be preferred, it is understood.
Author and sensitivity expert Virginia Mendez, who is not involved with the review of Ladybird books, said: “Normalising other relationships in books doesn’t take away from the story. [Just] letting them exist in that capacity as characters of the books.”