Channel Your Inner Disney Princess: Body Positivity Through the Eyes of a Weekend Princess

Although most college students have to slum through flipping burgers or answering phones until they have their degree, I am lucky.
There seems to be a growing industry, at least in southern california, of "birthday party princesses." A few years ago, increasingly more and more of my actor friends were working for these companies. It's the perfect fit for an aspiring performer: entertaining at parties and events on weekends, and pursuing their acting career during the week. I watched enviously on the sidelines, wishing I could have a job like that.

Not only do I love performing Disney songs (the notorious mezzo-soprano princess belt is right in my sweet spot), but I LOVE kids. Since I aspire to be a theatre educator, I couldn't think of a more perfect job... but I never even apllied. Why? Well, as a size 8 or 9 at the time, I thought I could never pass for one of the unrealisticly thin Disney Princesses.  I felt unconfident and lethargic, 2 qualities that don't exactly scream "Disney Princess." So, I pushed that little dream to the side, thinking that I could never and would never look and feel like my beauitful friends who worked for those companies.

And then something really awesome happened.

Well, at the time I didn't think it was really awesome, but it turned out to be. 2 years ago, I went through a really bad breakup. Without someone else to constantly dote on, I was alone with my thoughts, and it made me realize how unhappy I had become with myself and my appearance. For the first time in my life, I was uncomfortable wearing shorts, I couldn't run more than a mile without stopping, and I definitely looked a far cry from "Disney Princess." So, I decided to do something about it.
My weight has always been something I incesently worried about. Throughout middle school and high school, I yo-yod from being thin to the point that friends and family were worried, to overweight to the point that I hardly recognized myself. I fasted, I binged, I purged, I took diet pills, I tried every crash diet known to man, and guess what? Nothing lasted. I decided that this was the end of that, and I was going to loose the weight permanently and in a healthy manner. Instead of focusing on weight loss, I focused on becoming healthy. I wanted to feel good inside, and overtime that translated to the way I looked on the outside. In the back of my mind, I always kept that goal that someday I could be one of those "Disney Princess" girls.

Over about 8 months, I lost 28 pounds. But more importantly, I gained confidence. I broke the cycle of gaining and loosing weight, and learned how to create a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable. People have been asking me, "what's your secret?" expecting some sort of one step magic "fix-all" that will make them thin and confident. The truth is, I didn't do anything ground breaking. I ate food, I drank water, I excercised regularly, and I didn't worry about having that 'perfect' body. I focused on myself, and becoming the person I wanted to be.
 Today, I am supporting myself through college by-you guessed it- being a birthday party princess. I'm still a far cry from the slim 'ideal' waist that is perpetuated by Disney Princesses, but that doesn't stop me from looking and acting the part. Now I am healthy, happy, and confident, three qualities that make me look and feel just as much of a 'disney princess' as any size 2.
In short, size doesn't matter. What does matters is the way you feel. What matters is getting to a point where you can be body positive and comfortable in your own skin.
Be healthy, be happy, be confident, and channel your inner Disney Princess. 

Spring Awakening: The Problem with Censoring

Spring Awakening is undoubtedly one of the most powerful musicals ever written. It's pretty heavy stuff, and for some people that can be too much, especially because it's performed by teenagers. For those of you who don't know, Spring Awakening is a musical that centers around a young group of teens in the 1890's who are struggling with rape, abuse, sexuality, puberty, depression, suicide, teen pregnancy, abortion, and their sexual orientation, among other things. All but one of the characters lack an honest, guiding adult figure to help them through the difficulty of teenage years. The rest of the teens' parents just try and brush it under the rug, leaving the teens confused and at a loss for what is happening with their body and minds. The teens are without any truthful information about these tough topics, left to figure out sex and sexuality on their own. 

As I stated earlier, Spring Awakening is one of the most powerful musicals ever written. Why? Because this is a problem that we experience every day. It may not be the 1890's, but kids and teens are still growing up with misguided ideas about themselves and sexuality in general; And many adults are still 'solving' this problem by sweeping it under the rug.

Educating teens on the truth 
about sex and their bodies is the first step in solving this problem. Yes, there are sexual education programs in schools, but so many of these give wrong and useless information to the students. My high school's sexual education program consisted of scaring us into absitenence by showing us all the different STD's we could catch, without any real information on what sex is and how it works; A friend of mine was taught in her seventh grade sexual education class that if women have sex before marriage they are "spoiled" and won't be able to find a husband; while another friend of mine, who attended private school, did not receive sexual education at all. 

Upon further research, there are some really frightening statistics about sexual education in the United States. Less than half of the states in the U.S mandate Sexual Education, and only 10 of those states require the material to be medically accurate. According to a study done by PBS in 2008, America has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the developed world. In addition, 41% of teens aged 18-19 said they knew little or nothing about condoms or other contreceptives. 64% said they had used the internet to try and find information about sex, and upon further investigation, PBS found that over 1 in 2 of these commonly used sexual information websites were innaccurate. For those kids who receive wrong information, or no information at all, they often turn to movies, television, and the internet to try and learn about sex. Do we really want our kids learning about sex from 50 Shades Of Grey? Yeah, I didn't think so. 


I whole heartedly understand that parents want to preserve their children's innocence, and are worrried about them experimenting with sex too soon; But if we just give them real, useful, and honest information about sexuality, gender, and puberty then they will have the right tools to make educated decisions about sex throughout the entirety of their lives. Sheltering kids from the truth about sex may seem 'easier' than talking to them about it, but the result is really damaging. The fact of the matter is, if parents and schools don't educate teens on sex, they will get the information elsewhere; And that information is going to be tainted. 
Spring Awakening has a tragic ending. This 'censoring' leads to one teen commiting suicide, one dying of a botched abortion, two others damaged victims of sexual abuse, and one (the one who educated by his parents about sex) alive and in disbelief of what censoring has done to his friends. 
The lessons learned from Spring Awakening are of the upmost importance. Sex and sexuality need to be discussed truthfully, fully, and honestly with kids and teens. Let's make real life have a different ending, and stop censoring youth from the from the facts of life.