Tinkerbell too sexy for children?

**chipndale** · 17-03-2011, 08:52 AM

Hot-to-trot ponies? Dolls that wax? Toys get tarted up - Parenting - TODAY.com

Some parents are worried, claiming this is not the innocent fairy they remember from the 1953 Disney animated movie.

Animators had a lot of fun with Tinkerbell's tush. First, she measures it with a hand mirror. Later, she's trapped in a drawer and can't get her rear end (which animators admitted they modeled after Marilyn Monroe's fabled derrière) through the keyhole. Viewers are treated to a rear view scene of Tink repeatedly thrusting her herself against the hole.

Soon thereafter, in an effort to shake loose some pixie dust, Peter Pan gives her a right good spanking.

All this was in 1953. Tink has since gathered an entourage of fellow flirtatious fairies. The Disney Fairies star in a line of toys and direct-to-DVD movies popular among the preteen girl crowd. And some parents worry the fairies are giving come-hither looks and wearing skimpy outfits that send girls the wrong message.

But is Tink really sexier than she was 58 years ago? Maybe not, but a professor at the University of Iowa who studies gender roles tells ParentDish there is still a big difference between the versions.

Meenakshi Gigi Durham says Tinkerbell and her fairy friends are now part of a mass marketing effort -- with countless products -- targeting little girls.

And there's a danger in that, she says.