The other reoccurring motif that continues to pop up in traditional literatures is the damsel in distress. The princess in majority of fairy tales needs to be rescued from an evil person, fairy or animal by their prince. It was stated that "The relationship between folklore and children's literature involves a curious and often hidden gender dynamic" ( The Lion and the Unicorn 24.2 (2000) 279-307) however the gender dynamic is not that hidden. It is rarely seen that the women or princess saves the prince. In Cinderella the handsome prince search's the whole city to find her, the one he loves, and takes her away from the horrible place where she was forced to clean and slave over her to ugly step sisters. (Rackham 1933:232). In Sleeping beauty she cannot awake until her handsome prince comes and saves her one hundred years after she has pricked her finger, again taking her away to his castle where they live happily ever after. (Rackham 1933:189). Finally in Snow White after she has been poisoned by the evil queen it is the handsome prince and his servants knock the pieces of apple out of her throat allowing her to wake from her glass coffin and live happily ever after with the handsome prince. (Heiner 2006). However there is only one example out of the four fairy tales that I looked at where both the princess and prince save each other and that is in Rapunzel. The prince loses his sight after falling out of Rapunzel's tower and wanders the forest until he stumbles across her in the forest after hearing her beautiful voice, it is there that she recognizes him, begins to cry and it is her tears that restore the princes sight and then they all live happily ever after.

"In the same way as so much of literary study has been transformed by the challenge of feminist discourses, it is now impossible to think about books for children solely in terms of their effectiveness as educational and socializing tools or as part of the vast popular entertainment industry. Rather, the advent of a feminist perspective has transformed the way that it is possible to think about children's literature." ( The Lion and the Unicorn 25.1 (2001) 3-16). I believe this statement to be very true. After I was introduced to the feminist view of fairy tales I have found it very difficult to not read fairy tales in a feminist way. Also by being a women myself it contributes to my view that women, majority of the time, draw the short straw (so to speak) in fairy tales. However it really became evident after taking this subject and being introducing to the fact that there is always more than one way to look at a sample of writing.

In looking at the aspect of the damsel in distress in majority of fairy tales it can be bought back to reality, but not necessarily in a good way. This is so because by setting up the women (in fairy tales) to be rescued by the man is saying that women are dependent on men in everyday life, which is not the case. Women can now vote, drive, work, study, and do plenty of other activities that men do. Fairy tales that exhibit the damsel in distress aspects are sending a bad example to young readers, both boys and girls. It is saying that girls will need to grow up reliant on men, and therefore not gain any independence of their own, while boys will have to grow up with the stress of knowing that they will have to take care of their wife or daughter in the future know matter what the cost.