A controversial awareness campaign called 'Princest Diaries' that depicts Disney princesses sexually abused by their fathers has viewers divided.
According to
an article in Think Progress, the Middle Eastern 'artivist' known as Saint Hoax aims to raise awareness of familial abuse by using popular Disney princesses as subjects.
Ariel, Aurora and Jasmine are shown respectively fending off the advances of their dads.
Though the project has the laudable aim to "encourage victims to report their cases in order for the authorities,” Saint Hoax has been given shade for the medium.
In addition to citing an outdated stat on the posters (“46 percent” is derived from a 1992 Department of Justice study), Hoax's treatment may be overly simplistic for young children, who may not understand what "reporting" a crime actually entails.
Yet the Princesses could resonate with an older set—born through the '80s and '90s—nostalgic for Disney.
Obviously incest is a taboo, and the success of any awareness initiative depends on making the public uncomfortable.
“I was extremely hesitant about posting the series. I feared that it might be clashing with Disney’s principles,” Saint Hoax said
via an article in Mommyish. “But today, just one day after publishing my posters, I received an email from a girl thanking me for the project and telling me that she decided to report her father after seeing the posters. I actually cried. You have no idea how glad I am now that I actually published the series.”
Given the above, is this campaign effective or simply misguided?
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