The DARK TRUTH Behind the Story of Sleeping Beauty

About this episode

This episode explores the darker origins of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, focusing on themes of power, consent, and the treatment of women's bodies in storytelling.

Long before she was a Disney princess, “Sleeping Beauty” was a much darker story about power, consent, and punishment. In the earliest versions, the sleeping girl isn’t woken with a kiss, but is assaulted in her sleep, gives birth without ever opening her eyes, and only wakes up when one of her children accidentally dislodges the enchanted splinter keeping her under. Later retellings softened the edges, turning rape into “true love’s kiss” and brutal revenge into a neat happily‑ever‑after—but that polished fairy tale still sits on top of a much more disturbing original: a warning about what happens to young women’s bodies when they’re treated as objects in someone else’s story.

People in this episode

Host: Georgia Marie

Topics covered

• fairy tales
• power
• consent
• sexual assault
• gender dynamics
• storytelling

Keywords

• Sleeping Beauty
• fairy tale origins
• dark stories
• consent
• power dynamics
• Disney princess
• sexual violence

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Sleeping Beauty

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