lauramariaperez

I chose to compare traditional fairy tales -the ones we know and sometimes love- with a new fairy tale movement: gay and/or lesbian fairy tales. They are alternative fairy tales for children, that introduce them to what homosexual relationships are, rather than “promote” these relationships, contrary to popular belief. These alternative fairy tales not only break the stereotypes established by traditional fairy tales, but they also wish to break the conventions and prejudices of modern society towards homosexuality. They raise awareness in children on current homosexual issues, aiming to teach them tolerance and respect. Of course, as is expected with this issues, not everyone is happy or tolerant about this new way of seeing things. People whose mentalities have yet to change from  an extremely religious or male chauvinist view of the world, are raging against the use of these books at school.

These new, alternative fairy tales deviate from traditional ones in a way that could be similar to feminist tales. While classic tales usually tell of a princess being held captive, and a prince who has to save her, these tales take a step outside conventional boundaries: they not only change the characters gender, they also change their roles. Like in feminist tales where the princesses are active and the males passive or sometimes both play active roles, homosexual fairy tales forget about the usual damsel-in-distress plotline, which results in not only helping children be concerned about homosexual reality nowadays, but also to expand the boundaries of their mind beyond those of a conservative, male chauvinist point of view.

Some examples of these fairy tales are: King & King, a tale about a prince who chooses another prince among many princesses and end up getting married, And Tango Makes Three, a tale about two male penguins who become a couple and raise an egg (a story that was actually based on two male penguins of the New York Central Park Zoo who became a couple and successfully raised an egg), among others. There are also re-makes of old fairy tales, changed into a homosexual point of view, but some of those are not really meant for children.

Homosexual fairy tales are trying to bring the world a new way of seeing things. They are trying to change it. Of course, this will always raise controversy among the masses and they will always claim that these “radical” ways of doing so are wrong. They will come up with things like “they are corrupting our children”, “they are imposing homosexuality on them”. Let it be known, however, that homosexuality is not being imposed on anyone by these means.

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