Daughter as Han Solo, Dad as Princess Leia

[CallmeChaCha]

I don't know if this appropriate subforum to post this to, but I wanted to share this story about a 7-year-old girl who wants to be Hans Solo for Halloween and she asked her dad to be Princess Leia. She asked for permission to be Hans because she wasn't sure if she could do that because she's a girl. He told her it doesn't matter that she's a girl and she can do anything a man can do, with the exception of some biological acts. Awwww :big-heart:

Article: yahoo.com/parenting/dad-plays-leia-to-his-daughters-han-solo-101096543262.html

Blog post from dad: goodmenproject.com/families/tmb-whats-dad-daughter-wants-dress-han-solo/

[browncoatslytherin]

that is adorable. i love that dad. major points from me!

[BrownieMomma]

Kinda skeeved that father/daughter dressing up as a romantic couple.

Chewbacca?

Rather her wear Han Solo than leia's bikini.

[CallmeChaCha]

Kinda skeeved that father/daughter dressing up as a romantic couple.

Chewbacca?

Rather her wear Han Solo than leia's bikini.

I hadn't thought of it that way and usually don't think of Hans & Leia that way, actually. They're just two characters from a movie that are easily recognizable. (I'm not a huge SW fan, so YMMV.) I don't think the girl knows or thinks of the characters that way either, and she's the one that asked her dad to Princess Leia so I'm sure she just thought it would be cool.

[louisa05]

I hadn't thought of it that way and usually don't think of Hans & Leia that way, actually. They're just two characters from a movie that are easily recognizable. (I'm not a huge SW fan, so YMMV.) I don't think the girl knows or thinks of the characters that way either, and she's the one that asked her dad to Princess Leia so I'm sure she just thought it would be cool.

Regardless of how big of a fan you are, the characters are a romantic couple after the first film. And it is a bit skivvy for daddy to dress as her character's love interest. I agree with BrownieMomma, maybe he should have suggested that due to context he should be Chewbacca. The size difference would have been pretty cute that way, too.

[sparkles]

And I think it's a damned shame that every. fucking. thing. no matter how innocent, has to be sexualized. A little kid and her dad dressed up as Han and Leia. It's cute and kudos to the dad for encouraging his daughter to be whatever she wants to be---Halloween or not. I doubt it the romantic aspect ever occurred to him (it sure never entered MY mind until it was brought up here). Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and Han and Leia are just…Han and Leia.

[BrownieMomma]

It would have been awesome if he'd been Chewbacca but I get the feeling this is more about Making A Point. If he'd been Chewie, no article to write, for one thing.

Well I would have ooh'd and awe'd over the cute factor and the sweet dad/dau thing instead of feeling a tad creeped out about it.

idc that she wanted to be Hans Solo, honestly I think he made too big a deal making it into A Gender Equality Thing.

I quit telling my kids they could be anything they ever wanted. It's not true. I don't tell them they have limits either - I'm just here to catch them when they fall.

This should have been a cute fun family thing but Someone Has An Agenda and now it's not.

[bluehydrangea]

When I was 3 or 4, I wanted to be Superman for Halloween. Not Superwoman, but Superman, and my mom sewed me this costume with built in manly muscles and a six pack and everything! I went trick-or-treating and remember a few old people asking me, "oh, are you Superwoman?" and responding, "No, I'm SuperMAN!" and people were just like oh, okay. This was over 20 years ago, and it was not a big deal. No one in my life made it a thing, nor was it an agenda for gender equality. It was just a danged Halloween costume, and life went on! I almost feel like we're backsliding a little as a society in the sense that we feel like we need to make a big deal out of stuff like this -- it's cool, it's fine, but it shouldn't be a big deal at all.

I sound cynical, I know. :lol: Not a commentary on the OP, but the fact that this was even newsworthy on Yahoo at all.

[BrownieMomma]

And I think it's a damned shame that every. fucking. thing. no matter how innocent, has to be sexualized. A little kid and her dad dressed up as Han and Leia. It's cute and kudos to the dad for encouraging his daughter to be whatever she wants to be---Halloween or not. I doubt it the romantic aspect ever occurred to him (it sure never entered MY mind until it was brought up here). Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and Han and Leia are just…Han and Leia.

The dad is the one who made it sexualized. He could have very easily said "sure lets google for ideas!" Nooo he had to google for "women as hans solo" ideas and make a huge freakin deal about it about his "girl" dressing up as a "man."

He's an adult you think that is the first time he watched the movie? He has no idea whatsoever that Han and Leia become a romantic couple complete with on-screen kissing? Did they just ignore/skip those kisses? Because we don't like the idea of the daughter thinking of herself as part of a couple with her father..no mention of mom so probably divorced or not together... google mini-wife sometime.

That's is a parent's role in life - to gently guide your child, in this case how about not make a huge deal of a girl being Han Solo and Dad not be Han Solo's romantic partner?

Yeah.. another clue... he lets her pick his costume every year. let us hope he has different matchy costumes with his wife or real life romantic partner.

Han and Chewie are always together, always a team. This whole Han and Leia thing is saying a lot more about that father than you realize.

[CallmeChaCha]

Oh wow. I was just thinking it was cool that the dad tells his daughter she can wear boy clothes and boys can wear girl clothes. Given the fundies we snark on who don't even let their daughters wear pants, I thought it was a nice change. Suddenly he's a pervert :shrug:

Also, Han, not Hans :embarrassed:

[browncoatslytherin]

And I think it's a damned shame that every. fucking. thing. no matter how innocent, has to be sexualized. A little kid and her dad dressed up as Han and Leia. It's cute and kudos to the dad for encouraging his daughter to be whatever she wants to be---Halloween or not. I doubt it the romantic aspect ever occurred to him (it sure never entered MY mind until it was brought up here). Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and Han and Leia are just…Han and Leia.

qft. in the geek world, gender swaps happen quite often, both ways, and the romantic aspect never came into question for me until someone here brought it up. honestly, i think people do read into situations more than is warranted and come up with things that don't even necessarily apply to the situation.

serious question: those who think it's weird, would you consider it also weird if a young brother and sister want to dress up as a han/leia pair? on the surface, i personally don't think it would be, i would honestly think it would be cute that they would want to coordinate their costumes. but since others obviously feel differently about the above situation, i'd be interested to hear opinions on a similar type of situation.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Regardless of how big of a fan you are, the characters are a romantic couple after the first film. And it is a bit skivvy for daddy to dress as her character's love interest. I agree with BrownieMomma, maybe he should have suggested that due to context he should be Chewbacca. The size difference would have been pretty cute that way, too.

Really, people? Nothing remotely romantic or sexualized here. The costumes look great!

[TXGirlInAMaterialWorld]

Not really familiar with Star Wars, but I think it's really cute. He seems like a fun Dad and I don't think this is sexualized at all.

[Coco]

He probably just thought it would be funny to have the Leia hair as a man :lol: (have y'all seen the Kid Snippets videos? It's actually really funny for a guy to play the female role)

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[DGayle]

I've only seen the first Star Wars, and I had no idea Han and Leia ever got together. How does anyone know this isn't the only Star Wars movie she's seen? Probably she thought she could dress as the boy character, so maybe daddy would dress as the girl. I'm really disgusted at how every innocent thing has to be wxamined for how it can relate to sex, and how parents, like this dad, are supposed to be telling kids nope, can't do it because at some point in some later movies these characters kiss, which means we'd be getting sexy by proxy. Get over it.

[BrownieMomma]

I've only seen the first Star Wars, and I had no idea Han and Leia ever got together. How does anyone know this isn't the only Star Wars movie she's seen? Probably she thought she could dress as the boy character, so maybe daddy would dress as the girl. I'm really disgusted at how every innocent thing has to be wxamined for how it can relate to sex, and how parents, like this dad, are supposed to be telling kids nope, can't do it because at some point in some later movies these characters kiss, which means we'd be getting sexy by proxy. Get over it.

That's what parenting is for. Its not the child's responsibility, its the father's job. I'm sure he knew, I really really doubt that's the first time he ever watched Star Wars.

[Bluenoser]

JFC, nobody is role playing, they are just dressd up having fun. Looks like they are playing up the "hero" side, running around, shooting guns!

My daughter and husband dressed up as the wolf and lil red riding hood. They had FUN, noone even thought for a second that my daughter MIGHT have eaten grandma ...

[DGayle]

That's what parenting is for. Its not the child's responsibility, its the father's job. I'm sure he knew, I really really doubt that's the first time he ever watched Star Wars.

What do you say as a father? "No, because that's sexual"? If I dress up as Leia, and my best friend's husband happens to dress as Han, would that mean, if we took the kids out as a group, that her asshole husband and I are somehow portraying something sexual? These are COSTUMES. Even if it's a brother and sister, there are COSTUMES. Get the fuck OVER it. This begins and ends with these costumes being costumes, and nothing more. If we're supposed to be creeped out about this because OMG it must reflect something, then I'll be creeped out by all the little girls who dress as brides because of the problem of real-life child brides, and OMG why didn't the parents of those kids day no to those costumes?

GET. OVER. IT.

[happy atheist]

From the blog:

he shows her pics online of women cosplaying as Han

My daughter’s eyes went wide. She was sold on the idea. This could happen. But then she turned and looked at me, “But what are you going to be?” She thought for a second and said “Well, if I’m a Han Solo, you should probably be Princess Leia, I guess…” She looked at me with an implied question in her eyes. And, c’mon, if I immediately told her “YES, a girl can be Han Solo,” it would’ve been pretty hypocritical of me to say “Nope, a boy can’t be Princess Leia.” So, as quickly as I could, I said, “That would be FANTASTIC. I totally should be Leia.”

She's Han, he's Leia, it's fun. The end.

[browncoatslytherin]

What do you say as a father? "No, because that's sexual"? If I dress up as Leia, and my best friend's husband happens to dress as Han, would that mean, if we took the kids out as a group, that her asshole husband and I are somehow portraying something sexual? These are COSTUMES. Even if it's a brother and sister, there are COSTUMES. Get the fuck OVER it. This begins and ends with these costumes being costumes, and nothing more. If we're supposed to be creeped out about this because OMG it must reflect something, then I'll be creeped out by all the little girls who dress as brides because of the problem of real-life child brides, and OMG why didn't the parents of those kids day no to those costumes?

GET. OVER. IT.

that is a good point. there are quite a few costumes that could be extrapolated into the icky zone, both geek and non-geek.

[Gwendolyn Nightshadow]

I tend to over-analyse everything, and find creepy subtexts in anything, but it didn't cross my mind for even one second that there might be something inappropriate about these costumes. All I see is the awesomeness! Also, I can understand why the Dad is making a big deal out of this. There's a lot of social pressure on children to stick to strict gender roles, so it can take a big gesture to show children it's ok to express themselves differently.

[BrownieMomma]

The guy says he watched Star Wars with his daughter, her first time.

Star Wars is the first movie released, so presumably that's what they watched.

This movie is mostly about Luke, C3PO and R2D2, to a lesser extent Han Solo and Chewbacca, and really not that much at all of Princess Leia.

Han and Chewie are obviously a team in this movie. Luke and his bots are a team too.

So yep, I'm still saying this guy is absolutely full of it. There's no naturally connecting Han and Leia. There's natural connection of Han and Chewie.

Who cares if a 7yo girl wants to be Han? Why does he have make a huge gender deal about it? Why make a big effort to look up "girl costumes of Han Solo" why not just get her a costume and why make all the frickin hoopla over how she can do anything a boy can do.

I bet he either led her or outright lied that she asked him to be Leia.

Yeah, he's more interested in shattering stereotypes than he is in simply raising his daughter - there's no editorials to write for his blog if he just acts like her dressing as Han is no big deal. Nope, he's got to MAKE A BIG DEAL so he can have an article to write.

[happy atheist]

The girl wanted to be Han (and who wouldn't? Han is literally the best in Star Wars). I imagine she relates to/fixates on Leia since the only other female in the whole damn movie is Aunt Beru. Plus, it's funny to make your dad dress up as a girl. Dad is cool enough to go along with it. A happy childhood memory is formed. There's nothing nefarious.

:sith: :jedi:

[crazyforkate]

Oh, come on. You really don't believe it would be funny for a little kid to see her dad dress as a girl? She's so young, she likely doesn't make the connection - and 99% of people probably wouldn't. In fact, you're the only person I've seen who's thought of it that way.

Plus you know it's just gotta be cheaper than a Chewie outfit.

[happy atheist]

Plus you know it's just gotta be cheaper than a Chewie outfit.

And a lot less smelly.