RE the whole Disney Princess thing...This is an interesting debate, and I would just like to add a somewhat different point of view. I grew up about the time Disney was making Snow White and the ilk, and I remember my feelings distinctly. After all, the creative team at Disney at that time was almost exclusively male, and the princesses were the sort of feminine ideal a man creates- a radiant being to strive for, to be worthy of, to fight battles for, to protect, rescue and cherish...of course this has nothing to do with what real women are like, and the same was and is true of the male ideal created by women- the chap who sacrifices everything in pursuit of his one true love. In the general run of novels written by either sex even today you can see the same dichotomy. It is fashionable to sneer at such stereotypes these days, and to be fair and objective both images have done incalculable harm to the individuals of both sexes who have single-mindedly striven to mold themselves into what they think their gender opposites want them to be: i.e., an acceptable sexual partner.
Shall we be realistic and realize that this stereotypical way of viewing the opposite sex owes its origin to an age, not so very long ago, when the end of procreation was pretty much the end of life? I don't mean to be patronizing, boys and girls, but there can come a time when the woman or man you are with becomes simply another mind with a slightly different and therefore fascinating way of thinking- if you are lucky and have chosen wisely.