Groups React to School of Princesses in São Paulo Before Its Opening

11/17/2016 - 11h29

When the doors are opened to the rose colored and gold covered room for its first class of students in December, the São Paulo affiliate of the School of Princesses franchise will have an antagonist in the city: "de-princessing" workshops.

Created by Natália de Mesquita, a psychopedagogue from the state of Minas Gerais, the School of Princesses has generated controversy among educators and feminists by announcing that it plans to develop "modern princesses for the real world" through social etiquette, makeup, culinary and organizational classes, in addition to notions of self-esteem and orientation for the "most important step in the life of a woman": marriage.

At the same time the "de-princessing" workshops are replicating here a model created in Chile by sociologists and pedagogues to "liberate girls from limiting female conceptions", so called gender stereotypes, that "foment profound inequalities" between men and women.

"We are indignant that in 2016 there is still an educational proposal for girls that isn't emancipatory because it doesn't give them the freedom to choose their roles and that considers the primary objective of a woman's life to be marriage", says Larissa Galdolfo, pedagogue and philosophy professor and one of those responsible here for "de-princessing".

Psychopedagogue Natália de Mesquita defends her methodology, which came to her in a dream.

"These criticisms come from those who concentrate on one aspect but don't understand the program as a whole. It isn't a step backward. We like to say that the girls are entrepreneurial princesses. A woman doesn't have to sacrifice being a mother, having a relationship, or taking care of a home for a career. A woman can be successful in all of these areas", she says.

TRADITIONS

Heloísa Buarque de Almeida, an anthropology professor at USP (University of São Paulo) ponders that a princess is a "production of traditional and ancient femininity" and considers that there "are many ways to be a woman in the world".

For host and presenter Silvia Abravanel, who operates the São Paulo franchise, a princess being educated at the school isn't outdated. "It's a modern princess. She can wear jeans, but her tennis shoes are always spotless", she says.

Rosely Sayão, a psychologist, educational consultant and columnist for Folha, sees this idea as a restriction against childhood. "Children have to play, and playing gets them dirty. Being more worried about the way they look than the play itself is damaging to children", she says.

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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