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3-year-old girl dresses herself, becomes geek-chic Instagram hit

(Photo via Man vs Pink/Simon Ragoonanan)
(Photo via Man vs Pink/Simon Ragoonanan)

Simon Ragoonanan loves his 3-year-old daughter.

He hates pinkification.

The U.K.-based stay-at-home dad and blogger recently decided to stop picking out his daughter’s outfits each morning.

"Since she’s turned 3, I’ve decided to stop doing that, as I’m trying to raise an independent, empowered girl. I’m kind of sending mixed messages if I decide what she wears every day!" he told SheKnows. “So every morning, she chooses herself.”

The young girl’s unique sense of style, as documented on Ragoonanan’s Instagram account Man vs. Pink, is now going viral.

She pairs superhero shirts with floral leggings, dotted tights with plaid skirts and geek-chic tees, and rocks adorable Spider-Man shoes.

Ragoonanan insists that he’s not opposed to his daughter dressing in a feminine way, but he is opposed to the marketing machine he calls “princess culture.”

"I want my daughter to be her own girl and then woman, but with such marketing force trying to sell to her and define what they want girls to be, I feel I have to compensate a bit, so I’ve always encouraged her to wear the geeky stuff — as much to show others as well as herself that being ‘girly’ doesn’t have to mean pink and ‘princessy,’" he said.

Ragoonanan and his wife encourage their daughter to embrace strong female role models.

“I think little girls should aspire to be more than just princesses, that pink doesn’t have to be the only colour they like, and that all toys are gender neutral toys,” he told Buzzfeed.

The youngster especially loves female superheroes. And when a superhero is male, she often changes their genders and refers to them as girls, he told SheKnows.

"Anything with the Batman or Superman symbol we always call Batgirl or Supergirl, even though it’s not intended to be," he said, adding that finding Wonder Woman clothing for a toddler is difficult.

Other favourite geeky fashion moments from the preschooler have included a bright red cape, a Batgirl dress over striped leggings, and a DC female superhero sun hat.

Ragoonanan hopes his daughter’s style challenges the way people look at children’s toys and marketing.

“My daughter & I get so many positive comments from parents when we’re out and about,” Ragoonanan wrote on his blog. “I often then hear them telling their son or daughter how cool my daughter looks. Perhaps we are influencing some parents too.”

He continued: “I am confident I am doing right by my daughter, that these things are a positive influence on her developing personality. But in order for her to not be socially excluded because of it, I also need her peers and their parents to accept girls can be just as engaged with these things as boys.”