Early last month, Slate posted an article entitled, “In Defense of Zooey Deschanel” after the actress was criticized for wanting to be a girly girl with feminist beliefs. In an interview with Glamour Magazine last month, she remarked, “I want to be a fucking feminist and wear a fucking Peter Pan collar.” Same here, Zooey, same here.

The idea of being a girly girl has often been reduced to a sign of weakness. As someone who has an affinity for wearing skirts and dresses, this definitely resonates with me. This, essentially:

“Here’s the thing about being a girlie girl. I think there was a generation before us that felt like they needed to act like men to be taken seriously, like they had to use their sexuality to take control of people. I don’t judge people for that. But I don’t want to take all my clothes off and use myself as an object. It’s part of the machine and I don’t think that necessarily pushes us forward as women. I think you can still be girlie and maintain your power. The fact that you associate being girlie with being non-threatening, that is I mean, I can’t think of more blatant example of playing into exactly the thing that we’re trying to fight against. I can’t be girlie? Why do I need to be defined aesthetically by someone else’s perceptions of what makes me seem like someone who should be taken seriously? I’m going to wear whatever I want to wear, because I’m expressing myself, and I deserve that right. And I like the way that looks. You’re not demeaning yourself by acting girlie. I think the fact that people are associating being girlie with weakness, that needs to be examined. Not me dressing girlie. I don’t think that undermines my power at all.” – Zooey Deschanel, New York Magazine

There is a new wave of “feminism” happening recently, and I think it’s been agreed on my many that it’s in part thanks to people like Lena Dunham and yes, even Zooey Deschanel. They have been spearheading a strong female presence in entertainment in a way that isn’t reduced to manic pixie dream girls and damsels in distress (although Hannah of Girls is often distressed, but more on her another time). Since her role in (500) Days of Summer, Zooey Deschanel has starred in New Girl, and although her character is really cutesy, the show challenges not only the MPDG trope, but the idea that feminists and females in general have to “be” a certain way.

Many episodes of the show have proved that New Girl isn’t just about a cute girl living with boys, but rather, about breaking the stereotype of women being one-dimensional. Having guest stars on the show like Parker Posey and Lizzie Caplan (who Deschanel is often compared to for being similarly MPDG-like) is a way of showing just how different the women actually are. The show’s title says it all — it’s about introducing a new kind of girl to entertainment, a multi-dimensional one.