Once, and twice, and three times as well, during a specific time in a specific made-up place, there lived a pretty girl in a not-so-pretty life. She sat around in despair because she could not go to the ball or leave the tower or wake up from her slumber until a handsome prince came and saved her, and then the two sang a little bit and were married almost instantaneously.

Why are fairy tales so sexist? Why does the princess need help, anyway? Why is the prince her truest love? Why is she always gorgeous and slender? I’d really like to see a plus-sized princess for once! Why are these princesses so open to being prizes for men to save – and why are they all straight?

One thing that bothers me about Disney movies, and fairy tales in general, is that exterior beauty is often equated with beauty on the inside. Think about it: Ursula (“The Little Mermaid”) was hideous, Cruella (“101 Dalmatians”) was gruesome, and we all saw Rapunzel’s wreck of a stepmom (“Tangled”). In reality, you can be gorgeous and not skinny – or a not-so-nice slim person – because there is no mold for real beauty. Also, the negative people in your life are not always unpleasant to look at. I remember the first time I saw a photo of Hitler. I was expecting some greasy, grizzly, gross beast from the depths of hell, and what I saw was an average-looking man. Beauty outside has nothing to do with what is within.

I, for one, would like to see more princesses who fight with their parents like Merida in “Brave,” who wake up drooling like Anna in “Frozen,” who are inquisitive like Rapunzel in “Tangled,” who are dreamers like Ariel in “The Little Mermaid,” and who don’t look perfect 99.9 percent of the time.

I, for one, would like to see a lesbian princess, or a Disney story revolving around an LGBT character. It would be groundbreaking to have the fairy-tale world admit that love is love.

I, for one, would like to see a princess make mistakes, say things she shouldn’t, and deal with the consequences – without having to be rescued.

I, for one, would like to see a spunky girl save the prince, instead of the other way around.

We are the next generation. We are the ones who will enter the world and hit it hard. Do you want your baby cousin, or your brother, or your future children to grow up in a world where it isn’t enough to be average weight and height, where they feel persecuted for whom they love? Do you want this world to remain biased? I don’t. And I believe that we can change the world and get rid of these stereotypes.