Some people in this world dream of finding the elusive "Prince Charming," some already have, and yet others have absolutely no interest in ever finding such a person. I fall into the third option, but I love and support people from all opinions on this matter, so just know that this article isn't going to say that everyone else is wrong, just that there are some of us out here in the world who have no desire to find our own Prince Charming.
In our Disney-obsessed culture, lots of little girls grow up hoping to be a princess some day, often, these princess dreams are accompanied by those of a future Prince Charming. While these dreams may seem innocent enough and even endearing, they often at least partially continue in adulthood. Now, I'm not saying that there are tons of women running around dreaming of becoming princesses, but there is a fair amount of women who still dream of finding their Prince Charming. I am not one of those women.
The need for a prince speaks to the idea that a woman must have a man to be truly happy in this world. Not only does a woman need a man to be happy in this situation but she—if following in true Disney fashion—must be saved by this prince. This damsel in distress situation is one found in almost every princess movie and takes away any strength or merit the princess may have had on her own. Women everywhere are much stronger than even they may realize, and they definitely do not need a so-called Prince Charming to save them.
Women who feel they need to pretend to be this damsel in distress figure to get a man are giving all their power and independence to men who already have more than enough power of their own.
In addition to taking power from a woman, the idea of a Prince Charming is highly unfair to men. The expectation of a Prince Charming is that a man must be ultimately charming, have a model-like physique (you know, the one usually created by Photoshop), and be willing to save the aforementioned princess. So, in other words, he should be perfect to the point of only being able to be accurately portrayed by way of a fictional movie.
This lasting idea that women must seek out and find a Prince Charming to be truly happy in life is unfair to both women and men everywhere. It is not a crime to like the idea of finding a person who you love and want to spend time with, but it's only reasonable to go into such a situation with realistic hopes and expectations.
