[Editor’s Note: This piece has been published previously, it is republished here with the permission of Heroic Girls‘ John Marcotte.]
Halloween is nearly upon us again. And for the parents of little girls, the holiday can pose a dilemma. When choosing a costume, boys are told they can be anything they want: brave, scary, smart, adventurous and more.
The costumes designed for girls, on the other hand, tell them that no matter what they aspire to be, the only thing that society truly values is that they look “cute.” If you are a girl, even superhero and zombie costumes come complete with a tutu and a magic fairy wand.
I believe a direct line can be drawn from the aisle that tells little girls to focus on appearance and being “cute” to the aisle that tells adult women that being “sexy” is all that society values.
That cycle needs to be broken. We think girls dream just as big as boys. We think their potential is unlimited. We think that their costumes should be “more than cute.”
That’s why we are launching the hashtag campaign “#MoreThanCute”: to inspire girls and their parents to create costumes that tell girls that — even though they are adorable — that is not the only thing society values and it is not the only thing they should dream to be.
When your costumes are finished, post photos of them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag “#MoreThanCute.” We will collect them to demonstrate that we value girls because of their strength, their creativity, their intelligence and their ambition. Together we will show the world that while we we think our daughters are beautiful, that is not the most important metric by which we value them.
Together, we will help our girls show that they are “more than cute.”
John Marcotte is a the father of two superhero-crazy girls, a TEDx Speaker and the founder of Heroic Girls. He has written on gender and geek culture for Women You Should Know and the Huffington Post.
Melissa Pagluica is a comic book artist living in San Francisco who has worked with Boom! Studios, Jakk’s Pacific inc, Committed Comics and others. Her creator owned comic Above the Clouds is available in select comic stores or online.
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