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[side_show]

A few days ago I was working with some teenagers on a play I wrote.  These were some awesome kids - very respectful, seriously dedicated, and really smart.  We talked a lot about the play, but they were very shy to say anything critical.  Finally one of the girls asked me to turn to a certain page.  She was really shy about it, but she pointed out a line where a girl refers to other girls making fun of her for being " a tomboy."  She said that she found that line confusing... then the entire group agreed that they were confused by it too.  When I explained that the character is talking about being picked on, they all went "oooooh."  Then one of them said "we (i.e. Teenagers) don't use that word anymore."  And another girl said "Well, we use it, but not that way... it's good.  It's like... a compliment."  They went on to explain that in their lexicon being called a tomboy indicates a certain style aesthetic.  I said, "Oh, you mean like how for gay people, 'queer' used to be an insult, but they took it back?" and they all said "Yeah!" Turns out being called a tomboy is no longer an insult.  Interesting.

[jaydub]

I married a tomboy, so I'm glad to hear such goings on.

Ditto.  Dated a few girly-girls, but I had more in common with tomboys.  Go figure...

[jough]

Tomboys are better in bed than girly-girls, I've found.

Yeah, it's kinda an old fashioned word.  Good on the next generation for removing its negative connotations.

Now we just need to have people own nigger and faggot and we won't have any nasty things to say to each other.

Awesome.

[Golfhaus]

Now we just need to have people own nigger and faggot and we won't have any nasty things to say to each other.

The hip-hop community tried, but Chuck D holds them back.

[jough]

Chuck D.  That fuckin' guy.

[jay-ell]

My mom always described herself as a tomboy.  She would say it proudly, all talking about how she could beat her cousins in footraces and how she sprained her back when she fell out of a tree this one time, and didn't even cry when the neighbor boy threw a pitchfork through her foot.  (Through!  Her foot!  Into the ground!  She still has the scar to prove it.)  Then again, she was a farm girl, and I think tomboyishness held more value for country girls.  She was also one of four girls, and her dad desperately wanted a boy, so I think he rewarded her for acting more towards the boyish side than would have been the norm at the time (late 1940s to mid 1950s). 

I was never sure whether I was a tomboy or not.  I mean, I had a few dolls, but I liked trucks and those little green army guys more.  I was terrible at sports but I played video games a lot.  And I watched hockey on TV.  Mostly I was just geeky in a non-gender-specific sort of way.  At any rate, I never would have taken it as an insult. 

Yay for kids today.  On that count, at least. 

[Doc]

Tomboys are more fun, and cute too. They tend to be more comfortable with themselves and that's an attractive thing.

Smells: You still have a reference to a Daddio bogarting a brewski though right?

[pmcd9]

I think tomboy stopped being an insult when television invented Ellie Mae.

[AugustWest]

I think tomboy stopped being an insult when television invented Ellie Mae.

mmmmmmmmmmm Ellie Mae. 


I'll be in the cement pond...