There have been many campaigns in the past to raise awareness about rape within families across the globe, but artist Saint Hoax is using his craftsmanship to make a strong point about rape within families with the portrayal of popular Disney princesses with their fathers.
Ariel, Jasmine and Aurora all appear in the rape awareness posters created by the artist, in an effort to encourage victims to report their attackers. The posters show the princesses fearfully being kissed by their fathers alongside the statistic “46% of minors who are raped are victims of family members.”
‘The Princest Diaries’ is an awareness campaign targeted at minors who have been subject to sexual abuse by a family member. By using Disney princesses, Saint Hoax believes that she is using a “visual language” that her target audience will engage with.
The use of Disney Princesses becomes particularly relevant to the issue of rape when you consider the original stories that inspired the Disney version. The original Sleeping Beauty actually includes incestuous rape while she’s sleeping, while the original The Little Mermaid is, on the whole, incredibly dis-empowering to women (Ariel first gives up her voice for the prince, then kills herself).
