You see it at every comic book convention; multitudes of women (and a few lovely men!) dressed as ‘slave Leia.’ And when I look at them I think: Good for them!

People have the right to wear whatever the hell they want. But I personally will not wear that outfit. Because I am not slave Leia.

I think Leia is a great character. She’s a strong woman. She fights with the Rebel Alliance despite being an actual princess (compare her to most of the Disney princesses). She risks her life to get the plans for the Death Star. She withstands torture at the hands of Darth Vader and the Imperial Forces. She watches her home planet of Alderaan get destroyed. And STILL doesn’t give up the information they want while continuing to maintain her strength and dignity.

In short, she is a BAMF. And this is all still in the very first movie. Nevermind that she grabs a gun and tries to escape from the Death Star as soon as she gets the first opportunity. Nevermind that she has a sarcastic attitude and a comeback to every one liner thrown at her by Han Solo. And also nevermind that she somehow resisted jumping that dude’s bones for three movies.

She rocks.

But seriously, slave Leia? That is Leia at her weakest. She has again been captured. She is forced into a humiliating outfit that represents her captivity. She is wearing a literal chain around her neck like some kind of animal. She is forced to serve Jabba the Hutt who is repulsive in every sense of the word.

Now I am not trying to take away from her. She kills Jabba with that fucking chain. She breaks free of those chains and operates a cannon in that outfit. She helps Luke and Han escape. But still….slave Leia?

I am not slave Leia. If I were to cosplay Leia I would go as some other version of her. Almost all of them are better than her as a slave.

I am Boushh Leia. I am the Leia that willingly enters Jabba the Hutt’s den, risking my life to help my love. I am the Leia that convinces my enemies that I could, single-handedly, capture Chewbacca. I am the Leia that pulls a thermal detonator on a room full of people to settle my negotiations. I am the Leia that unfreezes Han from his carbonite prison.

If I am going to dress up as Leia, I am not going to be slave Leia.

Maurnas is the barely anonymous alias of a reclusive Floridian fangirl. She has an alleged humor blog at cursitivity.WordPress.com and can also be found at maurnas@cursitivity on Twitter. She writes almost as much as she reads but has done nothing with her debatable talents thus far other than all the blogging and tweeting and writing.