Who says protests about awful representations of women doesn't work? Walt Disney Imagineering is climbing down in its showing of sexual slavery as an entertainment.
Maybe that means customers' complaints hit corporation revenue, or just that moving with the times does happen, eventually.
At Paris's Disneyland the old banner at the 50-year old Mercado ride proclaiming "Auction, take a wench for a bride” is being changed on 24 July. It will become “Auction, Surrender yer loot.”
There will instead be an auction of valuables that were stolen from the townspeople.
And the bound, crying woman who was being sold off to pirates will soon be a pirate lady, bold and in charge.
In 2018 the other two Disneylands will rectify matters.
Disney has moved, belatedly, with the times before.
In the 1990s the scene where pirates chase female victims was changed so around. women chase men and some hold food. I guess you could call that progress?
--
In reality women and men alike in ports sold women's sexual services to visiting seafarers. One of the most famous 'dealers' in the Caribbean was Rachel Pringle, a madam in Barbados. (See pic)
As for selling wenches as potential "wives", this is a euphemism, and a fantasy. Pirates were unlikely to want a bride, ie a permanent partner, because few women were allowed in busy ships. Also, supporting a marital home, in a place the man might never visit again, was obviously a poor use of money.
No comments:
Post a Comment