I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an athletic person. Gym classes were torture and for some reason swimming lessons could never stick. I am not meant to be buoyant.
But nor am I a “girly girl.” I wear make-up so rarely that I end up having to buy a new tube of lipstick every time I’m invited to a wedding.
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The point is that there’s no right way to be a girl.
One mom from Moulton, AL ran into this issue when her 8-year-old daughter was playing softball.
During a practice session, Heather Mitchell was chatting with some other moms, and said that she hoped her daughter Paislee would learn to love the game, since she was so athletic.
That seems pretty innocent, but another mom felt the need for a rebuttal.
The woman commented that Pailsee couldn’t be athletic because she was “a girly girl.”
This really troubled Heather. She told POPSUGAR, “I couldn’t sleep that night. All I could think was, ‘Why does she have to choose?'”
Since Heather is a professional photographer, she decided to find inspiration in the false dichotomy.
She and Paislee headed to the studio, where the model dressed up in both frills and cleats for a shoot to prove that girls can “do it all.”
Just because a girl likes makeup and dresses doesn’t mean she can’t be athletic, and the opposite is also true.
It went so well, that they enlisted some of Paislee’s friends to make it a whole series.
And after sharing the pics on her personal Facebook page, Heather was flooded with requests for similar shoots. They added two days to their schedule and filled every slot with athletic, badass princesses.
Heather just wants Paislee and other girls to know it’s not one or the other.
“I hope she learned that she does not have to choose. My parents taught me that I could be anything I wanted growing up. I didn’t realize till I was much older that everyone is not that blessed. I hope that every little girl that sees this series can see that there is no box, whatever their dreams are they can achieve!”
To see more of Heather’s work, check out HMP Couture Imagery on Facebook!
h/t: POPSUGAR
