awkwardness can prove appealing to grown-up kids as well", whereas McLoone appreciated that Kim is seemingly more confident than her contemporaries. Likening Kim to comic book superheroine Wonder Woman, Kathryn Shattuck of The New York Times wrote that Kim is prepared to defend humankind "without sacrificing her interest in boys and clothes", observing that she does not rely on costumes "or a jolt of testosterone to get the job done". The Huffington Post's Carly Steyer credited Kim with teaching the importance of maintaining a healthy work–life balance, writing, "She paid an appropriate amount of attention to her schoolwork, and worked hard, but didn't slave over it to the extent that she didn't have any time left to save the world". In a 2019 retrospective, Variety's Mekeisha Madden Toby wrote that the series "connected with its audience because it portrayed a strong but fashion-forward young woman who fought crime and got good grades". Paste's Alexis Gunderson crowned Kim the year 2000's "favorite red-headed teen action heroine". The character has also been well-received by feminist critics, some of whom consider her to be a feminist icon. Writing for the feminist website Refinery29, Claire Fahey described Kim as "a feminist icon for the millennial generation". Courtney Thompson of Body+Soul claimed Kim was "many women’s first feminist role model before we even recognised ourselves, or her, as feminist". Believing there to have been few female-lead action cartoons prior to Kim Possible, Thompson credited the character with "introduc[ing] a new form of girl power we hadn’t seen before". According to Odyssey contributor Veronica Faison, Kim "planted my early feminist roots, and perhaps even set my social justice path". Calling her a "cartoon idol", Kadeen Griffiths of Bustle lauded Kim as an "amazingly feminist" character who "taught girls that it was okay to overachieve" and "worrying about boys didn't make you any less of a hero". Both BuzzFeed's Ellie Bate and Bustle's Sarah Freymiller applauded Kim for combating outdated, sexist stereotypes about cheerleaders, while Pride ranked her among "13 Cartoon Characters Who Defied Gender Stereotypes". Rebecca C. Hains of Salem State College cited Kim among several "strong powerful girl [television] heroes" responsible for "breaking the mold" during the early 2000s. Stephanie Janssen of The Spectator recalled that "Seeing on the TV that Kim can do anything made me feel like I could do anything, too". Esmeer Rigden-Briscall of Her Campus credited Kim with teaching several valuable