Stereotypical gender roles in english and turkish fairy tales

Abstract

Every society has its folk tales and fairy tales, which are passed from one generation to the other by oral speech. Because fairy tales are universal in all ages, societies, races and cultures they have many similar aspects in their plots, forms and contents. When we examine fairy tales in a feminist reading, it is obvious that traditional social norms or traditional gender roles trait young minds with stereotypical gender patterns so early in so-called fairy tales for children, lots of them are for adults. The fairy tales produce passive female and active male behaviors idealized in patriarchal society that female characters are stereotypically portrayed as submissive, dependent, powerless, incapable and obedient while male figures are typically portrayed as dynamic, independent, powerful and disobedient. This paper not only gives a short definition and historical background of the term fairy tale, but also focuses on a closer feminist reading of traditional gender roles in fairy tales in English