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Mark Hamill’s Response To A Young Girl Scared To Wear Her ‘Star Wars’ Shirt Will Give You A New Hope For The Future

Today might be International Women’s Day, but the existence of this holiday doesn’t mean that we’re even close to achieving gender parity (regardless of how many of its arches McDonald’s flips upside down). If you need any further proof, just read the recent series of tweets from a concerned mom about her young daughter’s hesitation to wear a T-shirt she loves for fear of being mocked for liking “boy stuff.”

N.J. Simmonds tweeted that her 7-year-old daughter was in tears because she didn’t feel she could wear her Star Wars shirt to school without looking “boyish.”

People on Twitter immediately began to send messages of support and solidarity to Simmonds’ daughter, assuring her that Star Wars is for everybody, not just boys.

Even Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, responded with some sweet advice for his young fan, encouraging her to ignore the haters and not buy into the idea of “boy stuff.”

Simmonds told her followers that her daughter had changed her mind, and was excited to wear her Star Wars shirt to school.

She also posted a heartfelt message about how the experience reminded her of the importance of International Women’s Day.

Raising powerful girls who aren’t afraid to be who they are and love what they love is one of the most important goals of modern feminism and gender equality — and we shouldn’t lose sight of that.

Otherwise, we could miss out on some pretty incredible female Jedi.