#TomboyCulture
By Stephanie Cook (MJour'18)
Search for Title IX and you鈥檒l find a landmark federal civil rights law passed in 1972. Search for the term 鈥渢itle nine,鈥 however, and the top result will likely be a national chain of women鈥檚 athletic clothing stores.
Legally, the implications of Title IX鈥攚hich established new requirements for gender inclusivity in federally funded educational programs鈥攚ere broad. Publicly, the law is known mainly for one thing: allowing women in sports.
As women growing up with Title IX took to fields, courts and arenas, the trend became woven into the fabric of society. Sporty girls became known as 鈥渢omboys,鈥 a term that fascinates Jamie Skerski, senior instructor in the Department of Communication.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 my generation, that鈥檚 Mia Hamm鈥檚 generation,鈥 Skerski says. 鈥淔or the first time, you have a generation of women who benefit from Title IX, and in the 1990s, imagery of sporty girls explodes in popular culture. Books and movies depicting athletic girls went mainstream.鈥
Originally, 鈥渢omboy鈥 described a young boy who was out of control or didn鈥檛 conform to polite culture. Later, it shifted to describe unruly women. The modern incarnation is a young girl who is biologically female but prefers the activities we associate with boyhood, Skerski says.
鈥淭hey exhibit gender behaviors that we associate with masculinity,鈥 she says. 鈥淭hat used to be seeking education or wanting to wear pants, and now, because of Title IX鈥攂ecause girls and women have had more opportunities in athletics and sports鈥攖omboy has come to mean athletic girl.鈥
The word 鈥済irl鈥 is important, as society鈥檚 acceptance of tomboys almost always has an expiration date.
鈥淢ost narratives have tomboys trading in their soccer cleats for high heels in the end,鈥 Skerski says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way to discipline that rebellion. You can do it, but popular culture says this isn鈥檛 a permanent status. You should grow out of it.鈥
At TEDxCU in 2018, Skerski presented the talk 鈥,鈥 inspired in part by students in her senior seminar on gender and rhetoric, whom she鈥檇 asked to present gender collages.
鈥淚 had not even talked about tomboys at this point in the semester, but I heard, over and over again, 鈥楬ere was my tomboy stage.鈥 It was all about freedom鈥攆reedom of dress, freedom of being strong鈥攗ntil you hit that junior high-middle school adolescence,鈥 she says. 鈥淲hen I heard it coming out of my students鈥 mouths, I was like, 鈥榃ow, it鈥檚 cultural, it鈥檚 personal, it鈥檚 on an identity level as well as a narrative level.鈥欌
As industries from entertainment to fashion embrace鈥攁nd profit from鈥攖omboys, Skerski warns that they often rob tomboys of an essential function: gender rebellion.
鈥淵ou get sexy tomboy or pretty tomboy,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 becoming more of a normative, dominant kind of identity rather than that rebellious woman or girl.鈥
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