Growing up, so many of us are defined as “girly girl” or “tomboy”. But why do we need to choose?
There are so many moments in movies, and in real life, that show some incredible girls deciding that they do not want to define themselves as one or the other of these boxes. Check these out!
In Movies…
If you have ever watched ‘Cheaper by the Dozen 2’, you many remember Alison Stoner’s ‘Sarah Baker’. Sarah realises that she wants to ditch her iconic baseball caps and beanies and embrace her ‘girly girl’ side. More recently, we have seen another Sarah embracing the side of her she had previously rejected. Played by Eva Hauge in ‘Feel the Beat’, Sarah is a closed-off tomboy and dancer, who we see embracing her more feminine traits as she learns to open up to her friends and family.
On the other hand, in movies like ‘She’s the Man’ we see girls cutting out all of their girliness in order to appear cool, be “one of the boys”, or to follow their dream. Amanda Bynes plays Viola in ‘She’s the Man’, who wants to follow her dream of being a footballer. In order to do that, she transforms into a LITERAL guy, to keep following her dreams.
So what have all of these characters got in common? Well, they decided that they did not want to be defined by one or the other of these categories. And you don’t have to choose either!
One mum’s mission…
Like many of us, one woman was sick of seeing girls being packed neatly into one box or the other, and she decided to do something about it. Heather Mitchell was at her daughter Paislee’s softball game when another mother made a comment about how Mitchell’s daughter was “a girly girl” and was “not athletic.” And Heather said “Why not both?”
This had happened to Heather when she was younger too, being told she needed to be one or the other. She did not accept that. Heather played every sport that she had time to play, and wore bright red lipstick to every game! Her parents had told her that she could be anything, and Heather wanted to impart that same lesson to her own daughters.
Having started creating these pictures with 8-year-old Paislee, and sharing them on Facebook, more parents got in touch, wanting pictures of their daughters showing off their ‘girly-girl’ and ‘tomboy’ sides at the same time too!
Heather had just one thing to say:
“I hope every little girl that sees this series can see that there is no box,” she said. “Whatever their dreams are, they can achieve them.”
ACTUAL Princesses…
You do not need to choose between being a princess or an athlete – that includes ACTUAL princesses too! Princess Charlene of Monaco was once an Olympic swimmer. Even the iconic Princess Grace of Monaco (Hollywood actress, Grace Kelly) was an avid fencer!
We do not need to fit into boxes! We are human beings, not cupcakes to be stacked into one box or another!
A red lippy is now an essential in my match bag. How about you?
