Staking a claim on the tomboy label (Pt 1)

When beginning this (mini) project, I did what all great modern researches do when needing a starting point: I Googled it. Yesterday I discussed whether the term is age specific, or if it can be used more broadly and if it's the latter, then just who else is using the label “tomboy” and how?

As it's a label I'm both comfortable with and proud of, I was hoping for loads of really cool, fun, interesting and informative sites touting the tomboy banner. What I found, however, was actually a bit of a let down.

Stick 'tomboy' in the Google search bar and the results you get all look samey at first. It's fashion this, fashion that, or tomboy as a trend, but not a lifestyle or way of thinking. This worried me. Perhaps that's all the term “tomboy” has become now: simply another fashion label that passes in and out of our consciousness as and when designers and the high-street see fit. Certainly this is the case when it comes to shopping for clothes. Some seasons I find it a cinch to shop the high-street for what I like and feel comfortable in. Other times it's nigh impossible.

Although frustrating at first, I refused to think that could be it. Tomboy on the whole world wide web simply could not be confined to a fashion trend, could it? There had to be more out there than fashion tumblr's and pintrest boards of women wearing tomboy-esque clothing. Where was the writing? The literature? The gender debate?

Ok, so none of that was to be found on pages 2-10 of Google either, but I did discover that “tomboy” is also a band, an Australian cafe, a professional note taking app, a solo musician, a DIY tool kit and lessons for women, and That's MyTomboy is a lesbian beauty pageant in the Philippines.

This last find, about tomboy becoming a term used within the lesbian community, is new to me. I've heard lesbians in my social circle describe themselves in many ways – lipstick, butch, dyke, “just a lezzer” - but not tomboy. Would love to hear your thoughts at the end of this blog, or Tweets (@RoseC_Leic) on this and what it means within the gay community. I'd like to expand on this in a later post as I only have experience of it in a heterosexual context and think it's interesting/potentially negative if an entertainment show is trying to 'normalise' lesbian by using a masculine noun, thus sticking a hetero angle on it to make it more socially acceptable. See where I'm going with this...? Either way, it's new to me and so I'd like to know more.

That was probably the most interesting find. The Tomboy Tools just pissed me off. Why, if you think women need to break free of patriarchal stereotypes that they can't do DIY and need a man around the house, would you then go and make your whole range pink? A stupid, girly, baby pink at that. The mind boggles and I left that site feeling patronised and hoped that I didn't come across any other wanky miss-uses of the label I so love.

There were a few 'diary of a tomboy' type articles on some feminist websites and what it was like when one tomboy donned a dress for charity, but these all echo the idea from yesterday about tomboy being an age specific term.

So, it will be a lot of reading for me this weekend to get my head around tomboy as a label for hetero and gay women and will try to tackle that next week. Watch this space, but let me know if you've come across any other weird, wonderful or simply infuriating bullshit that has tried to stake a claim on tomboy.

I think it's fast becoming clear that the aim here is that we at least reclaim the term from fashion and get to the crux of the idea that it's a lifestyle and the fashion is simply one part of it. What d'ya reckon?