By now, most of you have probably read Katie’s story. This story sums up exactly why I started Her Universe in the first place. Star Wars is for EVERYONE! Not just boys and not just girls, but for everyone. However, even with the increase of girl Star Wars fans due to The Clone Wars, little girls everywhere are still being told that Star Wars is not for them. I witnessed this same sort of situation back in August and I posted a blog post about it. Read the story below:
I just wanted to share something that has been on my mind ever since I overheard a conversation by two young sisters a couple weeks ago. I was carrying a Clone Wars mini backpack as my purse, I love the backpack because it has Ahsoka on it. While the backpack is clearly marketed towards little boys, there is no reason why a little girl could not carry it. One of the sisters, who was about to start kindergarden, said that she wanted my backpack for school. The other sister who was about to go into eighth grade, told the kindergardener that my Clone Wars backpack was for boys and that she needed to get a more girly backpack…………………………………….
This conversation made me think about all of the young girls in our Her Universe community that are going back to school this month. It made me think of all of the comments like these that are going to be hurled their way when they talk about Star Wars or sci-fi. I think about all of the girls that will feel like they have to hide their love of Star Wars because it is not cool or girly. I don’t envy their position, it’s not easy dealing with peer pressure. However, if I can give one piece of advice to our readers, it would be to go back to school with confidence. Be proud of who you are and what you like. One of the most attractive qualities you can posses is confidence. Other’s will gravitate to you if you have confidence in yourself. If a guy makes fun of you for liking Star Wars, he’s actually probably flirting with you. Most guys think it is cool that a girl is into the same things they are, they just don’t always have the best way of showing it. Trust me, they like it if you can prove that you can hang with the boys in a conversation. If another girl makes fun of you for liking Star Wars, she probably does not realize all that there is to love about it. She probably has not even given it a chance because of the stereotype, or, no one has ever taken the time to explain it to her. Star Wars is a conversation starter. If someone challenges you on why you love something, tell them why you love it and what makes it so great. Don’t make excuses for it. Be confident about it, you cannot force others to have the same likes as you, but they will appreciate your conviction. Be true to yourself. People will admire you for it. You may even make a new friend.
The younger sister that wanted the backpack was going into Kindergarden and the pressure to conform was already being placed upon her by her sister in eighth grade. I happen to know that the eighth grade sister is a victim or bullying herself and maybe in her own way, she was trying to protect her younger sister from the same sort of taunts that have been haunting her all throughout middle school.
Unfortunately, I have to cut this blog post short for now because I have to get ready and go to a wedding, but I will be back with more thoughts about what we can to do help stop this epidemic of bullying. In the meantime, do you have any stories like this and what is your advice?
Ashley 😮