Do I Have a Fairy Tale Prince?

I am a princess. I may not look or live like it yet, but I am.  When I am older, I will live in a beautiful castle/house. I will have so many beautiful dresses I won't know what to do with them. I will go to balls, and when I walk in, fashionably late, I will be the belle of the ball. And of this, all of what I will soon have is because of one person. Who is that person you ask? If you are thinking me, you would be wrong. I am nothing but a simple girl, I can't get all of these things for myself. I need a man. A strong beautiful man, preferably a prince, but he could also just be super rich. We will meet at a ball or some charity function, I didn’t want to go to, my friends dragged me to. We see each other, and I don’t think much of you and you didn't think much of me, except that I was H-O-T. I mean come on, he is a man, there is no way I could be in love with a woman. That doesn't happen in fairy tales. Anyway long story short we get married after realizing we are perfect for each other, we get married, and he takes me away to live in his castle/house. And the happy little princess lived happily ever after, the end. That is the plot to almost every fairy tale ever written. What every girl wants; including me. Its what I grew up wanting.

I used to think I was better than all of those other girls, because while they were engrossed with Cinderella and Snow White, I happened to look at Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” as a role model.  She was, is, the better princess after all. (Well at least in the Disney version) She is her own person, she read books, she didn't take crap from anyone. Everyone either loved her or wanted to be her. She didn't wait for her prince to come save her either. She only found her prince when she went to save him. How is that for girl power?

We are raised from birth to believe that there is that special someone out there for us. That our other half is the one that is supposed to make us whole, and that we will never be whole with that half  missing. But when I look at my self in the morning I am whole. There is no side of me missing, inside or out. But inside I feel as if I am missing that thing that everyone else has. It's like a piece of me is not lost, but was never there, like I wasn't born with it; like this is some sick joke on God’s part. They made an Adam to go with every Eve and vice versa. Why did they do this to us? Make us a match for someone? It makes no sense. Love is everywhere. It's in songs, paintings, TV, movies, books, music, even right outside your window. We are surrounded by it, and yet no one knows how to define it? How is that right? Is it even real? And if so, who says so? Are you sure that thing you feel when you're with your "other half" isn't just a tiny heart attack that makes you feel like there are butterflies in your chest? What if there is something really wrong with you and you don't know it, because everyone told you it was love?

I hate those books. You know the kind where the guy and girl are complete opposites, and yet they still fall in love in a matter of days? And then there is some big problem, but by the end of the book everything is fine and they ride off into the sunset with each other. I mean how unrealistic is that? Maybe that is how they did it in the olden days, but that is not how it happens now a days. There is only one couple I know that has lasted through the years, and thats the Whites. They are the perfect couple. He always pays attention to her, and she always takes what he says into consideration. But everyone knows that one old couple who has lasted throughout the years, right? Other t Mr. and Mrs.White, I know no one else who has gotten through the better or worse that they promised to help each other get through on their wedding day.

But how do I know, I know what I want. I mean, I know what I want, but how do I know why I want it. I have grown up in a society where women are told that they shouldn’t exist without a man. That their purpose in life is to serve men. Those who try to exist without a man are suppressed and womanized, until they are forced to go crying into the dad’s arms . That there here is no way we can not exist without a man. So girls are left wondering if the fairy tale prince is simply a result of a brainwashing society or because it is what they truly want. It's confusing. You can never know. Do you even need love? Is it even a real thing? And I'm not talking about a mother’s love or family love, because I know for a fact that that is a real thing. I’m talking no platonic love.

Men seem to be able to exist without love. They applaud each each other for not settling down. For not having the responsibility of a wife or kids.  They are able to sleep around with women, and then become heroes. Yeah, sure they might get a slap in the face now and then, but that only adds to their hero status. They are successful business men, that have no responsibilities to weigh them down. Women are expected to settle down. To have kids, to make a home. If they don't they are not thought of as real women. If they did what men did, they would be called sults and tormented untill they either quit trying to go against society's laws, or start bending to society's will.

In "Beauty and the Beast" that is all Belle did. After their happily ever after Belle just went to the kitchen to cook, or looked after the castle. While her husband who hadn't ruled for over 50 years resumes his rule over the kingdom. A kingdom that doesn't question how wrong he was for abandoning them for his own problems, they just accept him back with welcoming arms because he is a man. He had the power, and Belle was just proud to be the wife of a king,  a person in power, a man.