The End of the Tomboy?

Tomboy – a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of a boy.  Common characteristics include wearing masculine clothing and engaging in games and activities that are physical in nature and are considered in many cultures to be unfeminine or the domain of boys.

Does this Wikipedia definition bring to mind anything else?

In a recent conversation with a relative, he told me… “My mother was a tomboy.  She played baseball, climbed trees, and liked boy games.”  The woman he was referring to is today a mother, grandmother, and was happily married for about 50 years.

Everyone my age has known at least one tomboy back in the day.  Invariably, they grow up to be well-adjusted, feminine women.  Some remain in sports.  Most were allowed to go through this stage of their childhoods by normal, supportive parents.

There were always the exceptions, where parents frowned upon their little girls playing baseball, or climbing trees, or playing with frogs and lizards.  But the stories nonetheless ended happily, with these tomboys growing into womanhood.

Now… consider the Wiki definition above in today’s society.  What is likely to be the first reaction by parents, relatives, and friends? 

The reaction today would be to rush the child into a “gender reassignment clinic” for evaluation.  A 7 or 8-year old girl, who tells her parents she likes to do “boy things”, or wear boys’ jeans, or play with toy soldiers in the mud… might not be scolded for such behavior.  But neither will she be given the space to be a “tomboy”, like in the good old days of normal, uncomplicated child rearing.

Each day the encroachment on heretofore sacred areas like elementary school education and women sports, by the LGBTQ+ pressure groups, is becoming more evident and difficult to control.

Back when it was simply a gay rights movement, the focus was on eliminating discrimination on gays in areas such as jobs, salaries, and other areas of opportunity.

Today, these LGBTQ+ pressure groups are actively seeking changes in elementary school education, availability of gender clinical treatment for younger and younger children, inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports, and forced changes in centuries-old vocabulary rules.

Nowadays, if a 7-year old girl wants to play baseball and play with toy soldiers and tanks, she’s not considered a tomboy.  Rather, she’s considered to be a “boy” who happened to have “the wrong gender assigned at birth.”

The end of the tomboy as we knew her.