Erasing the 'Tomboy'
Tomboy; noun, a girl who enjoys rough, noisy activities traditionally associated with boys.
It was first used in the 1500’s to describe a woman who was bold and immodest. It was then a common character seen in 20th century art, film, and literature such as Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. The term today now describes girls who are friends with mainly boys and who also partake in predominantly male activities, such as sports. Either way, the term has never had a positive connotation.
This sense of negativity associated with the word is detrimental to girls and their early on involvement in athletics. Tomboy directly implies a sense of masculinity. Picture her: Samantha, goes by Sam for short, a young seven year old girl who dresses in pants and oversized t-shirts, her hair always slicked back into a high ponytail that suits the intensity of her rowdy soccer games. She hates Barbie dolls and would much rather play video games with her brother before going out to play some more with the guys.
Tomboy is commonly used in circumstances like the one above, to describe a young girl who enjoys sports. A lot of the times people display this as a phase that girls go through before they become sexualized and feminine. However, this implies that sports are only made for boys. This implies that in order for a girl to be an athlete she must abolish all of her femininity. Most young girls don’t want to be affiliated with something society sees as so negative and unconventional. But what if we ended this word?
What if a girl who enjoyed playing a rough and noisy sport like basketball was just considered an athlete? What if instead of creating a term that sounds politically incorrect to describe her characteristics, we inspire her to be the best one on the court? Female athletes do not always have to be associated with nontraditional and unconventional traits.
Now picture Samantha again, but this time in a different light; a seven year old girl who hates wearing dresses to school because they are uncomfortable, she wears her hair down to school everyday and puts it up right before going out to recess so it doesn’t get in her face when she completely dominates the boys in a soccer game. She gets home and runs outside to dribble a soccer ball in order to use up the last few moments of light before proceeding to playing with her favorite dolls, dressed in jerseys and referee uniforms. And on the weekends she loves to get her nails done with friends, her favorite color to get is purple. Her parents encourage her to keep playing which makes her feel happy and confident. That picture is not a tomboy. That picture is a female athlete.
Sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/tomboy/512258/