ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the many literary genres that adapt fairy-tale material adopt different stances toward reality, and despite their varied conventions disentangle the imbrication of fairy-tale femininity and feminine sexuality. Contemporary American authors rewrite fairy tales in a dazzling variety of genres: poetry, young adult fiction, children’s literature, picture books, literary short stories, paranormal romance, erotica/smut, science fiction/fantasy, and more. Before addressing gender and sexuality in American fairy-tale literature, it is useful to briefly review scholarship on gender and sexuality in fairy tales. The chapter argues that the importance of intersectional and especially homosocial interpretations of gender and sex in fairy-tale literature in contemporary America. Fairy tales in contemporary American literature tend to question the strictures of femininity, critiquing the “good girl” stereotypically found in Disney and various folktale collections, along with expectations of heteronormative behavior. Many American retellings subvert the concept that fairy-tale heroines are saccharinely sweet and good.
