How 'bout a girl who's got a brain? Who always speaks her mind?

Okay, so I’m sure all the ladies have heard of this “which Disney princess are you?” bananas—and maybe have even spent time thinking about it in their twenties. Ahem. Anyway, I always said I was Ariel, not for any similarities in our personalities, per se, but because I wanted to be a mermaid. When I was small, I was obsessed with the water and the ocean and all that—so much so that before I had any idea of what a scientific career might entail, I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist. Thus, Ariel.
Later, I guess I was slightly more aligned with Belle, Disney’s resident lady booknerd, but that’s about all we have in common, since she's all compassionate and into hairy men.
Plus, I still want to be Ariel. Pre legs. After she gets legs, I am so not interested in her life anymore.

Now, though, I definitely don’t relate to the princess thing at all, because they all end up with a man, and so I was like, “Who is the gayest Disney princess?”
And, while not technically a princess, the answer is, duh, Mulan. It’s not only for the cross-dressing and the kicking ass better than the boys. As I was driving home from Toronto, I was listening to some Disney soundtracks, and I was, like, struck by this line in “Reflection,” sung, of course, by Mulan: “If I were truly to be myself, I would break my family’s heart.” Now I was lucky enough not to have that struggle, and I know bringing Disney into this is cheesy and all, but that’s what a lot of young gays experience—that feeling that if they let themselves be who they are they’ll be disappointing the people they love. And Mulan’s struggle is to try to be the person her family and her traditions expect her to be—but she can’t. Even if she lets down her family, she must be who she is.
Gay. Gaygaygaygaygay. Or just a badass warrior chick, which, considering it’s Disney, is pretty much good enough.

Later, I may go on an extended jag about Disney's portrayal of women, which was actually a topic of discussion in a class I took in college, so I feel justified. Kind of.