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"If you read this blog regularly, you know how having a curly-haired daughter has changed my feelings about hair texture in this world. More specifically, I wish there were more celebration of natural curls in our popular culture. So you can imagine how I feel about the news that Disney has given a keratin treatment to its heroine Merida, of Brave, for her official introduction to the Disney princess universe this Saturday. Here&amp;#x27;s a side-by-side photo of the new Disney princesses version of Merida vs. the original movie version. Yeah, those curls have definitely been smoothed a bit. They&amp;#x27;re more like Victoria&amp;#x27;s Secret model waves now. And people aren&amp;#x27;t happy about it. A petition has been gaining steam on change.org protesting Disney&amp;#x27;s Merida makeover, including her trimmed waistline, sparkly gown, lower-cut dress, and high cheekbones. The petition reads: &amp;quot;Merida was the princess that countless girls and their parents were waiting for&amp;amp;#8212;a strong, confident, self-rescuing princess ready to set off on her next adventure with her bow at the ready. She was a princess who looked like a real girl, complete with the &amp;amp;#8216;imperfections&amp;amp;#8217; that all people have.&amp;quot; You guys should go read the comments on the petition too; they&amp;#x27;re really interesting. Now I have not seen Brave (I am trying to keep the Disney princesses out of our home as long as is sanely possible, but I sense they&amp;#x27;re coming soon), and I&amp;#x27;ve sort of glazed over and given up any indignation about Barbie&amp;#x27;s unrealistic waist-to-hip ratio, but this Merida business still bothers me. That character on the right is gosh-darn cute, and yet in a totally realistic way, and I would love to see more leading animated ladies who look like her&amp;amp;#8212;especially more with those amazing ringlet curls. That said, I wouldn&amp;#x27;t say I&amp;#x27;m outraged; the princess on the left is still pretty classy in the grand scheme of the crap that&amp;#x27;s marketed to our little girls. Will you be signing the petition? Does Disney&amp;#x27;s makeover of Merida irk you, or do you think people are just taking things too seriously? Photo: Change.org"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/lipstick/blogs/girls-in-the-beauty-department/2013/05/disney-has-made-over-merida-fr>