The Plight of Tomboys

[julieandrews]

I was browsing Novelist and plugged in the keyword 'tomboy'. (After having little luck with 'crossdress*' 'intersex' and 'asexual'.) Books about tomboys are probably fun and interesting, right? Maybe they're kicking butt with a sword, or piloting a spaceship, or at least climbing trees and playing baseball.

Well, no.. apparently the vast majority of them are trying to turn into girly girls to catch a boy.

The Tomboy - Mary Lou Rich
"When tomboy Allie Daltry turns in her britches for a fancy dress, she discovers that she can turn the head of every gentleman in town,[...]"

High School Debut - Kazune Kawahara (manga)
"Haruna, a tomboy, is determined to change her stripes when she enters high school, but is sadly lacking in fashion or social sense, so she recruits cute upperclassman Yo to instruct her on how to make herself more appealing to boys."


Callaway Country - Annette Broadrick
"Pamela McCall, his childhood sweetheart, who has transformed herself from his sister's tomboy friend into a beautiful and beguiling woman."

River Temptress - Elaine Crawford
"Tomboy Georgette Pacquing is happy with her rough and tumble life on the Oregon frontier until she meets gambler Pierce Kingston and decides to trade in her britches for a corset in order to win his affections. "

The Gentleman - Kristin James
"In The Gentleman, Stephen Ferguson sets out to teach western tomboy Jessie Randall how to be a lady"

Song of the Willow - Charlotte McPherran
"Living in a household with five men, Willie Vaughn grows up as a tomboy, and, when she meets Rider Sinclair, she realizes that she must learn the fine art of seducing a man."

Tori's Crush - Cherie Bennett
"Tori is tired of being treated as a tomboy and is determined to make Pete Tilly notice that she's a girl."

And there are more, but you get the idea.



There is the occasional exception. Which makes each of them stand out and almost makes me want to read them just because they're not in the mold of the above. Here's one example:

The Adventures of Flash Jackson - William Kowalski
"Sixteen-year-old Haley "Flash Jackson" Boomhauer, tomboy extraordinaire, confined to her room after breaking her leg, unexpectedly finds her boredom allieviated [sic] by her eccentric grandmother who teaches her the magical arts."

Maybe it's something about the word 'tomboy' that implies it's a state she needs to grow out of and become a 'real' girl, preferably with a boy or a man by the end of the story. Do I need to look for other keywords? Butch? Strong? Spunky? Sporty?

Halleluia for the tomboy 'extraordinaire', Flash Jackson, who, from the evidence of the term, rejoices in who she is.

Maybe all the tomboys who aren't in need of reforming just aren't using that term, or any term. Maybe they're just doing their thing and any book summary about them just calls them girl and gets on with it. Though I do wonder where all the bi and lesbian tomboys went.

I'll leave you with one last thought. Look at the (presumed) gender of the writers in the examples I quoted above. It reminds me that my favorite series featuring a girl right now is the Jacky Faber books by Louis A. Meyer.

Comments

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting trend with the writers. And I don't dispute for a second that High School Debut belongs on the list at first, because that is what the heroine is trying to do, but her "coach" informs her she's misguided and it's fine to be sporty and she's good the way she is. All her attempts to become something she's not fail miserably.

ETA: Of course, she is still wanting a boyfriend, but at least she isn't trying to suppress her true self.

[(Anonymous)]

I offer you Alex and the Ironic Gentleman. I haven't read it, but it's on my in-shelf. Alex is a 10-year old who's often mistaken for a boy, but she isn't one. (The Ironic Gentleman is a ship.) As far as I can determine, she's as spunky at the end of the story as at the start.

- Keyan