Disney just announced a new kind of princess to their plethora of ladies in tiaras. In contrast with adult princesses like Jasmine and Cinderella, Princess Sofia the First is a child. Sofia’s key market is little kids ages two to seven, and her movie is set to hit theaters next fall. She will then move into the small screen with her own series on the Disney Channel in spring 2013.

According to Disney, the purpose of the movie and series is to teach young children valuable lessons like sharing, being kind and getting along with siblings. Like other Disney princesses, Sofia begins as a commoner, but then she moves into the palace after her mother marries the king. She is supposed to be a relatable princess who faces the same issues as other little girls do like fitting in and making new friends. Don’t worry, though, the general manager for Disney Junior Worldwide says that Sofia will be wearing pretty dresses and sparkly shoes, too.

I really want to like this project because they have a lot of excellent actors on board for the show. Ariel Winter (Alex on ABC’s Modern Family) will voice Sofia, Sara Ramirez (Grey’s Anatomy) is Queen Miranda and even Tim Gunn (Project Runway) will take part as Baileywick, the royal steward.

But I can’t. It isn’t too surprising that Disney is releasing another princess character—the Princess toy line rakes in around $4 billion in income each year for the Disney corporation. Because of this, little girls spew the idea that they want to be princesses, and older women seem to have the misconception that they need to be or are.

Princesses can be sweet; they can kick butt; they can do anything they want, Disney seems to tell us. But the mere fact of princess-hood already requires fancy dresses, sparkly jewels, pretty makeup—essentially, the trappings of traditional feminine beauty--in order to do any of those things. It’s the kind of difficult paradox into which women are entrapped all of the time: Disney tells little girls that they can be anything they want, but in order to do anything she wants, she needs to be beautiful.

Is it any wonder that female politicians are constantly critiqued for wearing the wrong shoes when we feed our 2-7 year-olds the idea that they need to wear sparkly dresses? I hope I am not the only one who hopes that Disney stops reheating the idea of the ugly common girl who transforms into the beautiful princess—and only then can save the world. Girls--sans makeup and jewelry--have the potential to save the world just fine.