The article implies that the "classic" fairy tales
are the Disney tales, which is just plain wrong. I have no idea about the dissertation, whether the researcher specified Disney versions or Grimms' and Perrault's versions. The thing about fairy tales is that there is no
one form of a "classic" fairy tale. Some of the heroes and heroines are helped out by magical helpers, some survive on their own wits. There are several different versions of every "classic" tale, such as Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and so forth. Beauty and the Beast actually traces back to the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. Cinderella has been found in several different forms in almost every culture of the world. There's something deep about these stories that we have held onto for millennia, and I don't think it has to do with making women submissive.
I just spent the last semester looking at these tales in depth, and I have to say that the woman is simply way off base. I agree with SE--it feels like a master's thesis that was manufactured to fit a shocking idea.
Of course, in real life, the magic, fairies and good kings never show up.
But this often happens in fairy tales. Disney is actually just following in a very
long tradition (of a particular style of storytelling). Yet I can see how the changes in Cinderella and Snow White, especially, would encourage that particular mindset. But I would argue that they reflect a cultural belief, rather than espouse something that had no origin.