These powerful photos of young women prove that strength is more important than beauty

Some people say little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. Photographer Kate T. Parker is here to argue otherwise. 

Parker photographed daughters and nearly 200 girls across the country as they dominated sports, practiced the arts, and played freely with their friends. Her portraits — collected in her new book "Strong is the New Pretty"— prove that the old "sugar and spice" bit is just plain reductive. Girls are made of grit, determination, creativity, wildness, and confidence, too — and they look just as gorgeous in mud-covered t-shirts as they do in pretty dresses.

"I wanted to show my [daughters] that beauty isn't about being a certain size or having your hair done [...] or wearing a fancy outfit," Parker wrote in the book's introduction. "I wanted my girls to know that being themselves is beautiful."

Here are some of the book's most powerful images, plus more on Parker's inspiration for the project.

Parker's daughters inspired her to start photographing young girls in a new way.

Parker was always snapping pictures of her 8- and 11-year-old daughters. After a while, she realized that the most powerful images were the ones in which her daughters were messy, loud, wild, and joyful — not the ones in which they were posed with perfect smiles. 

So Parker turned this realization into a conscious project: To show her daughters, through photographs, that being themselves is truly beautiful. 

In time, Parker expanded the project and photographed girls from all over the country. Their portraits are collected in her new book, "Strong is the New Pretty."

Some portraits show girls excelling at sports and the arts. Others show them jumping on the bed, running through sprinklers, and whispering to their friends.