Dora the Explorer entered my household when my son was little, and I was thrilled to have her. I welcomed her not only because she was my son’s first Spanish teacher, but because she embodied positive traits of girlhood. Dora was an explorer, an adventurer. She was smart, bilingual, she figured out problems, solved them, and was able to navigate maps and follow directions. The only girl on the show, she did this on her own, with only a monkey by her side.When my daughter was born, I thought it was great that she had such a role model for her girlhood — until now.
Today, Dora has become more girly, more feminine, and her adventures require her to be transformed into a Princess with long billowy hair, a gown, and jewelry. Apparently, the original Dora wasn’t girly enough for our daughters; she needs to be feminized, girlified, modified for girl consumption and emulation.
But who decides these things?
It wasn’t little girls. They didn’t look up at their mamas and inquire why Dora wore a t-shirt and shorts, had short hair with bangs, collected stars, and solved problems instead of brushing her hair and trying on dresses. Dora was spectacular the way she was — but now someone — a corporation, media specialists and God only knows who else — have decided that they can make more money by turning her into a Princess. But at what cost?
It’s all at the cost of our little girls. Our daughters don’t need any more Princesses. They don’t need any more toys, TV shows, and models of superficial, fragile, docile, and limited femininity. They need the original Dora — the adventurer, the explorer. Girls need their version of Diego, who is nothing more than a child seeking knowledge and new experiences with which to make her stronger, smarter, and more empowered in a society that tells her she is nothing more than a girl — nothing more than a pretty, girly, feminine mommy.
We — our daughters — don’t need another Princess, another pretty girl they cannot equal in appearance. They do not need to believe that wearing a dress, having long hair, and dancing is the way for them to live life to the fullest — that being pretty is the thing to achieve as a girl.
They need more models like the old Dora — a Dora that simply presented herself as a little girl in the same outfit and same haircut for years, with the only thing changing in each episode was a problem she had to solve. Dora focused on her brains, her problem-solving skills, her ability to follow directions and read maps, solve riddles by surly trolls, count to 100 in English and Spanish, and revel in her accomplishments. These accomplishments required thought, intelligence, and skills that went beyond her outward appearances and her clothes. Now Dora is a Princess, and her goal is to follow the directions towards becoming a pretty girl.
Why can’t they just leave her as she was, providing our daughters with real life role models who use more than their looks to get ahead? Why can’t we just have one little girl that transcends the superficiality of femininity that plagues our society, our gender, and our televisions? Leave our girls alone unless you have something empowering to show them — because Princess Dora is not empowering, and she doesn’t empower our girls.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Marina DelVecchio
My daughter loves Dora so I’ve seen just about every episode including the princess one. And I have to really disagree with you – she only turns into a princess for one episode and she does so to save Boots.
And to become a princess, she has to do all these tasks, still showing that she is a problem solver and does empower little girls to be strong and to help their friends.
She’s not seeking to become a princess and she still does all of her Explorer things as well. But i don’t think there is anything wrong with princesses – I think princesses can be strong women too.
Thanks, for commenting Mandy — I did see these things in the show also, but the fact that they even make her into a princess is fault enough — at least for me. She is not princess — she’s tomboy and adventurer, and girls need to have at least one of these.
The reason they can’t leave Dora alone is because there isn’t enough to sell when she isn’t girly. It is so easy to sell dresses, braceletts and make-up kits to little girls. If Dora doesn’t change her outfit, there is nothing to merchandize. I personally wish they would have tried selling binoculars and bug collecting kits before giving in to princess hats, but there it is. You might like the book “Packaging Girlhood” by Sharon Lamb about this business of selling little girls on what they “should” look like.
I agree, Shannon. They have to market her to little girls and girlify and pinkfy her so they can sell more pink, more sparkly versions of her.
I had not seen much Dora lately to notice that she had changed. I have always liked that my son enjoyed watching her. I don’t know that he will be as engaged if she is going into a more princess mode. He’s just not that interested in what princesses are up to. But we are not home when Dora is on so we have not had the opportunity to watch her.
I noticed that Diego ‘matured’ about a year ago and I thought that it was strange. I have a friend that works in project development for Disney’s cartoons. She says the guy making decisions is basically a 25-year-old that the “suits” call the “wiz kid”. She told me that they don’t listen to parents at Disney so I have boycotted it in my home. This may give you an answer to what is going on in the board rooms at these places.
Nick Jr. still has pretty good shows but as soon as they are tainted with corporate influence, down they go! ….like so much else in America!
Thanks for the info/background on Disney, Heather. Did not know this, but it certainly makes sense.
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God knows our country does not need another princess. It needs strong, intelligent, resourceful women.
Thanks for the post.
Thank you, Karen. I’m all for the intelligent and strong role models, but they are not on TV.
Great article. My youngest granddaughter loves Dora the EXPLORER! She is no Princess her flighty middle sister fits that role. Dora has been a part of our house for over 8 years. My oldest granddaughter enjoyed her episodes and worked beside her on her explorations. She took to Diego as well and learned about the rainforest. These shows offer thought and education. All the girls improved their Spanish language skills from watching the show and they enjoyed the original Spanish Dora shows where she taught you English. She was a role model and hero. The Princess and Fairy episodes were cute but they were dress up that was not Dora. The girls do not like the new teen Dora. I have seen many children walk away from her at Toys R Us because she does not look right. I even seen kids run in horror because someone hurt their Dora by doing that to her. Now this! Guess there will be no more Dora in our home if she makes the full transformation. The youngest is the last Dora fan and she does not like the Princess. She likes the Dora that looks like her!
Andrea, I didn’t even know there was a teen Dora, but I don’t see her staying around for long. Teen girls want Miley Cyrus and God only knows what other feminized version of girlhood gone wild. Very sad. Thank you for visiting
My daughter doesnt watch too much Dora anymore but i totally agree with you. When she was younger i also loved that she learned spanish from Dora. Some of her first words were in spanish (i didnt know what they meant until later on when a spanish woman told me she was saying run in spanish, lol) I do notice when the older episodes are on my daughter likes them better than the princess ones. You are very right, give us back Dora the EXPLORER. Kids do not need Dora the Snow Princess!
I felt physical shock and disgust when I saw the commercial for the new Dora ballerina line. I can’t believe that we’re allowing this awesome role model for childhood — because my son loved Dora as much as my daughter does — to be turned into this thing that she never stood for.
We just had an “explorer” birthday party modeled on Dora. The colors were bright and cheerful, the kids got explorer kits with magnifying glasses, flashlights, and telescopes. My daughter wore a pink shirt and orange shorts. It was fantastic — and it was all about adventure.
That’s what Dora’s about — not ballet pink and flowing hair and a waist that’s impossible to achieve.
Shock and disgust.
A lot of people don’t realize what is being done with Dora, and how subversive the message the message being sent. We think it means nothing to girlify our one adventure girl, but it means so much. For our girls! Thanks for commenting, Kelly
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Riveting tale, chap
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My friends and I read this post and there was a resounding ‘YES!’ from all of us.
I loved this in particular: ‘We — our daughters — don’t need another Princess, another pretty girl they cannot equal in appearance. They do not need to believe that wearing a dress, having long hair, and dancing is the way for them to live life to the fullest — that being pretty is the thing to achieve as a girl.’
We get so little variation in heroines and other female characters (they are ALL PRINCESSES) to the point that ‘girl’ is synonymous with ‘princess’ is synonymous with ‘pretty’ (is synonymous with ‘worth less than heroes/male characters/boys’). It’s so pervasive that you get films like Tangled where Rapunzel is first TURNED INTO a princess, then relegated to love-interest so that the male character can be the protagonist, the first time Pixar has a female protagonist in Brave she is a hero and an archer who is…also a princess and now Dora gets turned into one (within the show and out of it) too.
Sometimes I like princesses. One uses magic and another becomes a pirate queen and this one explores dangerous lands and that one saves the world!
…It’s just that how are girls going to see themselves as explorers and dancers and pirates and sorcerers and dragon slayers and heroes because of that ONE character if EVERYTHING they see is princesses?
Yeah, KB. Now, to shut down the redefiners of Dora. Let’s get them! I’m sure that men are behind this thing.
I stumbled upon this post when I was searching to see if the target age for Dora was different for that of Diego, because there is definitely a difference in the material and the manner in which it is presented. The Dora shows are so mind-numbingly simple, asking children the most ridiculous questions, insulting to the intelligence of a 3 year old. Diego’s show is smarter (his parents are scientists and his cousin helps us find needed clues) and livelier (the music!), and Diego is so much more adventurous. Dora is a great concept, but unfortunately she falls short and pales in comparison. Disney be damned.
Yes, Dora is for little ones, and Diego is for much older children. And he most certainly has more adventures than Dora. You make very good points –
My seven year old niece reacently attended a “Princess” birthday party. The little girls went to a party place where they had their hair and makeup done and were dressed in fancy dresses. I thought it sounded very inappropriate for seven year olds, but she loved it. She is very much into the princess thing.
Hey Lori, as you can see, I’m always on here…you have a better chance of getting me here to talk to you than on the phone. Sorry. My phone is usually off and in my purse, or in my daughter’s hands.
Anyway, of course, little girls love this crap. But it just reinforces that we will always look at girls and women as cute little darlings with perfect faces, bodies and hair. I think it’s the wrong message to send to any girl, and I don’t think it’s cute. At least, not in the long run. Can’t wait for you to read your poem this coming week. :) It’s brilliant. You’re brilliant.
Thanks Marina :) I have no problem with little girls playing dressup. If the party had been at the child’s house, and mom had a great colletion of dress-up/make believe clothing I think the party would have been appropriate, but the fact that there is a franchise business that makes little girls into princesses at a profit really irks me. My own daughter loved dressup up and pretend. Strangely enough, as she entered adolescence she went through her tomboy phase. She was into skateboarding and baggy boys clothes LOL! Go figure.
the old Dora was the best she was fun, but what about the changing they made to her as a tween?? I dont understand why they had to change her image except for maketing and revenue purposes. They slimmed her down, added long flowing hair and Im pretty sure there is a hint of make-up. I havent watch the show in quite a many years, but is the character still the young girl or the new tween? My niece loves dora but prefers to be a princess and dress in everything princess. She role plays and builts a castle out of her bunk beds and want her prince charming to come save her. I try to encourage her to save herself, but at the age of 7 she just doesnt see that she is able too because all the shows/movies she watches, it is always prince charming coming to the rescue. I will still continue to try.
Michelle, I didn’t know about the teen version of Dora, but why can’t they just let her be who she is? Drives me nuts. Thank you for coming on here and commenting.
What I think is great about Dora is that boys love to watch it. This helps boys learn to admire girls for more than just beauty. If Dora turns into a princess then boys will stop watching because she is too girly and it would mean the end of a great show that both sexes can appreciate. Let’s keep Dora from tripping over her ball gown and leave her un-accessorized for now.
Gemma, yes. My son watched it when he was little, and he actually still watches it against his will.
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Hola! I just stumbled across this article, and you’ve so reeled me in that I created a livefyre account just so’s I can join in on the fun! This was a well-written, thoughtful, and earnest critique of Dora the Explorer’s evolution. I’m a Director on the show—I don’t in any way claim to REPRESENT the show, but I have been fortunate to be employed on both Dora and Diego. So, I suppose this is sort of an insider’s view. Somewhat. I don’t write for the show. I don’t decide what the content is. I execute it. If the show falls short of the mark, I think I can speak for everyone that works on the show—that’s genuinely disappointing. Not that we ever assume what we do is perfect, but there is a great deal of care put into the creation of the show. I agree with everything you say about providing positive body images and role models for girls. That’s where it’s a bit disappointing when we don’t succeed. Because there is SO much effort put into creating the very positive entertainment that you so vividly describe. The bar you set is the same bar we set, and I don’t imagine that it’s possible to satisfy everyone—but everything you’ve said is reasonable. The show only exists after so long because it makes money. That’s what business is. But what keeps me coming back to the show season after season is that every single product that gets sold sends another young mind to visit Dora’s classroom. That’s what the show is to me. It’s a friendly class where preschoolers get to sit down and playfully interact with an encouraging role model. There are studies that demonstrate that positive affirmation actually reinforces neural patterns—patterns that affirm developing minds, reassure them and encorage them to try new things. Because everything is new when you’re a preschooler. To be honest, the exteranl trappings—princesses, unicorns, talking backpacks, and giggly monkeys—all of that is just bright color and imagination. Dora never becomes a Princess. She experiences being a Princess, or a mermaid, or a hot air balloonist in her own world. Just like all children do. Well, that’s the idea anyway. :) As I’ve said, I don’t believe any of us on the show would ever claim that we do everything right. But as far as I’m concerned, the fact that the show makes a ton of money for a corporation or something is just totally irrelevant. Because people like me get to try, at least, to reach kids in a positive way while they’re just waking up and toddling out into the sunlight of their lives. I really appreciated reading your article. It’s always useful to hear critique and see where one can improve one’s craft. :) Your Preschool Pal, Allan Jacobsen
Hola, Jake. I really appreciate you coming on here and discussing the issue with such tact and respect. Thank you. As a mom and an educator, I am struggling to empower my daughter, because there is not much out there to make her feel strong and smart and beautiful as she is. I love Dora as she is, and I hate to see her be a Princess even for a minute on her show. Even putting her in dresses moves her away from the adventures she can’t have if she wears a dress. Can’t climb trees in them. Anyway, thanks for commenting and positing your point of view. Really appreciate your candor and thoughtful response.