Nearly every show I watched or book I read when I was younger portrayed female characters as anything but feminine, and left femininity for the “weak” characters, or “annoying” characters that were often hated by the rest of the cast. Seeing all this, I grew up thinking being feminine was a bad thing, that liking pink was a bad thing, that wearing dresses would make me annoying as well, like the characters I saw on TV.

Even now, I’m not sure why things were they way they were. But I’m glad that I grew out of that mindset, and I hope little girls nowadays aren’t growing up seeing the same things. I hope they see women in pink frilly dresses and still think “yeah, that’s a strong and inspiring person”, especially because she’s not ashamed of her femininity.

I mean, look at Barbie.

It isn’t as if there weren’t any shows with feminine characters - there was Winx Club, Totally Spies, etc., but for some odd reason, I found those shows “cringe” or “embarrassing” to watch. Why? I have no idea. But I do think it had a lot to do with girls “never wearing dresses” in other shows or being “not like the other girls”, hence being “cooler” and “more relatable”.

If I could go back in time, I’d tell myself that there’s nothing wrong with not being physically strong, there’s nothing wrong with being feminine and physically strong, and there’s nothing wrong with the color pink.

-mimi