In the mid-2000s, a trend now referred to as the ‘Disney Purity Movement’ affected many young stars, most notably women. This culture projected strict ideals relating to purity onto the personas of the young people within its grasp. If you were a teen in 2009, religiously watching reruns of Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place, you may have been at the receiving end of these messages. Let me guess, you worshipped Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato? Disney’s young and impressionable audience looked up to these stars and, as such, watched attentively as they remained true to the wholesome brand identity that Disney cultivated.
Although you may have watched the Disney stars gallantly smile and wave to the camera, filling their young audience with bedazzled bliss, behind the scenes, things weren’t always happy or ‘pure’. If we reflect on this memorable moment in pop culture history, evidence suggests that some young stars had negative experiences. As if you couldn’t guess, it was mostly the young female stars who suffered from this movement, facing immense pressure and public scrutiny.
We don’t blame you if you’re having trouble remembering the details of your 13-year-old self’s Disney obsession. That’s why we are revising some of the crucial elements of this moment in time. In the mid-noughties, many well-known Disney stars wore promise rings. Included in this lineup were Selena Gomez, The Jonas Brothers, and Demi Lovato, who has since spoken out on the trauma arising from her childhood experiences of the Disney purity culture. As detailed in a 2021 article by writer Keith Baldwin for Popdust, the promise ring trend worked well with Disney’s wholesome brand identity.
Let’s contextualise this a bit; the rise of this culture coincided with the Christian purity movement. What is that? The Christian purity movement basically pushed a strong belief in abstinence into American society. So, abstinence was vital, and to firmly establish this promise, rings became the popular accessory choice. But what did the real experiences of some of these stars look like alongside wearing promise rings and perpetuating a culture of purity?
In 2007, nude photos of Vanessa Hudgens were leaked to the press, and the public went mad. Hudgens received hate from the media and Disney fans and subsequently issued a public apology. Disney made it abundantly clear that Hudgens had messed up by publicly apologising for her behaviour, as if any of this was in her control. In a personal essay for Vulture in 2013, Joe Jonas documents his time working with Disney and outlines what he heard of the scandal and how it affected him:
“We were working with Disney in 2007 when the Vanessa Hudgens nude-photo scandal happened. We heard that she had to be in the Disney offices for a whole day because they were trying to figure out how to keep her on lockdown. We’d hear execs talking about it, and they would tell us that they were so proud of us for not making the same mistakes, which made us feel like we couldn’t ever mess up. We didn’t want to disappoint anyone—our parents, our fans, our employers—so we put incredible pressure on ourselves, the kind of pressure that no teenager should be under.”
Not only did Hudgens suffer due to this invasion of her privacy, but Disney also used the situation against other young stars, pressuring them into fitting in with the purist ideals. After all, this was essential to the wholesome Disney brand identity.
In the age of Disney Pruity, Hudgens broke a vital law: to remain chaste and innocent, and the public persecuted her. Certainly, we can all understand the trauma this experience must have had on the then-18-year-old actress. The consequences following this explicit invasion of her privacy are unimaginable.
Actress Lindsay Lohan is another example of how the Disney purity culture inflicted negative experiences on young female stars. Lohan garnered fame at a young age, starring in successful Disney films, including Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Shopaholic. When Lindsey began displaying characteristics that did not fit the pure Disney ideals, she quickly amassed significant backlash from the media. It’s the digital abuse by the public and Disney fans that once again affected the life of a young woman based solely on her refusal of certain ideals.
A CNN article titled ‘Lindsay Lohan’s Troubled Timeline‘ demonstrates the lack of privacy granted to Lohan and the public preoccupation with her substance abuse struggles. Notably, CNN reports that Lohan was admitted to rehab for the first time in 2007, the same year nude photos of Vanessa Hudgens leaked. Two young women going through incredibly trying times who would have most certainly benefited from respect and privacy and got everything but. This article detailing Lohan’s history of substance abuse alludes to her public undoing. It is intricately linked to her demise from the status of a Disney hero, while Hudgens faced much the same unjustified public scrutiny.
In his 2021 Popdust article, Baldwin explores the intersection of Demi Lovato’s sexual abuse trauma and the pressure of the Disney purity movement. Like many Disney young stars in the mid-2000s, Lovato wore a promise ring. Since her time on Disney Channel, Lovato has detailed her horrific experiences of sexual abuse while working in the film industry at just 15 years of age. Lovato has described the way this purity culture made her feel ashamed over the abuse, as if she didn’t have enough to worry about. How can a society allow the sexual abuse of a young woman and simultaneously criticise her for not fitting into purest ideals? As if it isn’t apparent already, much of the purity culture revolves around the disapproval of women having casual sex.
Why did Disney push such a strong narrative of purity? Establishing a cult of purity helped market Disney films to the public. Like any brand identity, Disney needed to firmly showcase what it was as a company and what it had to offer. Disney predominantly produces content for families and children, so the brand benefits from cultivating a wholesome identity. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that Disney’s young stars suffered under the pressure for the benefit of a multi-million cooperation. Further to causing young people to suffer, this purity movement helped sustain an old, patriarchal ideology.
Speaking of Disney, recently Maddy Gordon-Finlayson looked at ex-Disney kid Sabrina Carpenter and what she has achieved this year. Click here to read more.
