Thesis advisor: Sarah Babb / How does sexuality differ across cultures? Across genders? I propose that women in the Philippines face unique constraints on acceptable sexualities. Historical context and contemporary influences (i.e. the mass media, Catholic doctrine, education, and family) continually define and redefine acceptable behaviors. I conducted ten qualitative, open-ended interviews with Filipina women via video- or voice-conferences in early 2014. Based on the data collected, non-traditional women’s sexual orientations primarily were constructed through appearance and behavior, and not simply on sexual orientation. Women appearing or acting in a masculine fashion are labeled tomboy. Attitudes surrounding these alternate practices varied, especially as a result of religious beliefs or personal experiences. The data collected from the participants supported the importance of appearance and external influences in the constructions of and attitudes towards women’s sexualities. Furthermore, trends in the responses suggest a changing social culture in the Philippines that could lead to greater social acceptance for same-sex oriented identities. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology Honors Program. / Discipline: Sociology.

This study explored the lived experiences of girls with the socially constructed labels ‘tomboy’ and ‘girly girl’. Using a prospective, life history, qualitative methodology, girls between the ages of nine to fourteen years old were interviewed up to four times over five years for an extensive embodiment project. The present study investigated girls’ narratives of the ‘tomboy’/ ‘girly girl’ dichotomy to deepen an understanding of how gender discourses affect how girls learn to live in their bodies. A total of 87 interviews were collected from 27 girls representing diverse social and cultural backgrounds as well as different urban and rural Canadian locations. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes using the constant comparison method from Grounded Theory. Examining the data from a feminist poststructuralist theoretical approach, three main dimensions emerged that described these girls’ experiences of living with these labels from childhood through adolescence. The first dimension described the shared cultural stereotypes of the ‘tomboy’ and ‘girly girl’ labels. The second dimension delineated the social outcomes in terms of the privileges and consequences associated with each label in childhood and in adolescence. The third dimension highlighted girls own negotiated self experiences and identities in relation to this gender dichotomy. Through its prospective design, this research uniquely delineated the complex range of experiences girls have within gender discourses and explored how labels work to control and restrict girls’ freedom to stay connected to their self and body.

This study explored the lived experiences of girls with the socially constructed labels ‘tomboy’ and ‘girly girl’. Using a prospective, life history, qualitative methodology, girls between the ages of nine to fourteen years old were interviewed up to four times over five years for an extensive embodiment project. The present study investigated girls’ narratives of the ‘tomboy’/ ‘girly girl’ dichotomy to deepen an understanding of how gender discourses affect how girls learn to live in their bodies. A total of 87 interviews were collected from 27 girls representing diverse social and cultural backgrounds as well as different urban and rural Canadian locations. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes using the constant comparison method from Grounded Theory. Examining the data from a feminist poststructuralist theoretical approach, three main dimensions emerged that described these girls’ experiences of living with these labels from childhood through adolescence. The first dimension described the shared cultural stereotypes of the ‘tomboy’ and ‘girly girl’ labels. The second dimension delineated the social outcomes in terms of the privileges and consequences associated with each label in childhood and in adolescence. The third dimension highlighted girls own negotiated self experiences and identities in relation to this gender dichotomy. Through its prospective design, this research uniquely delineated the complex range of experiences girls have within gender discourses and explored how labels work to control and restrict girls’ freedom to stay connected to their self and body.

This thesis concerns the female gender identity generally known as the tomboy – a non-marginal gender identity. As a result of the non-marginality and complexity of this gender identity research on the subject is sparse. Moreover, previous research has not shown a limitation of tomboyism to homosexuality. This study aims to explore the specific socialization route in which such gender identity formation is acquired and to make clear, its main stages, determining factors and key agents as well as the social-psychological and emotional experiences of tomboys. An evaluation of the consequences of this particular type of socialization, in relation to these women’s work and family lives has also been made. The empirical material was collected through the qualitative method of deep interviews. An interdisciplinary theoretical framework including theories from sociology, gender studies and social psychology have been used in the analysis of the empirical material. The specific socialization route of the respondents was found to consist of five distinct stages. The different stages are characterized by: a separation from femininity, identification with and adapting masculine behaviors and attitudes, resisting gender norms and/or mainstream culture, being sanctioned and integration of masculinity and femininity. The primary key agents were found to be the parents and other role models that were either male or performed an unconventional femininity. The consequences of taking this particular socialization route was the formation of a female gender identity that cannot be categorized as traditionally feminine or masculine, according to the heterosexual matrix (Butler 1993) nor can it be understood as a cross-gender or queer gender identity. Moreover, the tomboy identity formation is found to cause ruptures in the heterosexual matrix as proposed by Renold and Ringrose (2008). It is concluded that further research on the heterosexual gender identity of the tomboy is needed in order to fully understand both the particularities of it and its impact on the heterosexual matrix.

The tomboy is a female character that has featured prominently in many popular works of children's literature. Typically, the tomboy is a prepubescent or teenaged girl who is frustrated by the expectations and limitations placed upon her because she is female. She is reluctant to conform to feminine standards of appearance and behaviour. This thesis examines the representation and evolution of the tomboy character in two distinct categories of children's series fiction, 'books in a series' and 'series books'[1], focusing on narratological elements such as plot, characterisation and series structure, as well as their publishing context, exploring issues of authorial intent, editorial decisions and, in certain cases, the official revision of texts. 'Books in a series' are usually presented as bildungsroman – that is, stories, or in this case, series, of development. In these narratives, time progresses and the characters age; tomboyishness is depicted as a temporary phase which is grown out of when a girl matures, and learns to accept and perform femininity. In contrast, 'series books' are centred on adventure and/or mystery stories, rather than on the process of growing up – the characters' ages are typically frozen, and tomboyishness is a distinguishing character attribute which remains for the course of the series. In studying children's literature, it is important to acknowledge that the audience of children's literature includes adults as well as children – it is after all, adults who determine and control the production, distribution and legitimisation of texts for children. Originally, children's literature was written specifically for the religious, moral, behavioural and social instruction of children, rather than for their entertainment. Although appearing less overtly didactic in recent times, the production of children’s literature has continued to be driven by the adult concern for ideological appropriateness, and the desire to responsibly educate its young readers. This concern and desire are fuelled by the underlying and persistent belief that children are like sponges and will absorb whatever they are exposed to[2], including representations of gender difference and gender performance. The ways in which the tomboy character has evolved in the children's series are a direct reflection of the shifts in society’s ideas about gender, the gendered education of children, and the adult conception of what is ideologically appropriate for the children’s text. The tomboy character in children's literature has been an important cultural marker of both our evolving and constant values. It is clear that over time gender roles have changed significantly, allowing girls in series fiction to be sleuths, rescuers, warriors and adventurers, but through all of this change, the representation of the tomboy has always reflected adults' conception of what is ideologically appropriate and normal and therefore desirable, in the representation of masculinity and femininity, gender and sexuality in children’s literature – a normality and system of gender based on a steadfast heterosexual hegemony. [1] Inness, Sherrie A., ed. Nancy Drew and Company: Culture, Gender, and Girls' Series. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997, p.2. [2] Sternheimer, Karen. It's Not the Media: The Truth About Pop Culture's Influence on Children. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2003, p.181.

abstract: The study of tomboys offers useful insights for the field of gender development. Tomboys have been the focus of several studies aimed at defining what a tomboy is (Bailey, Bechtold, & Berenbaum, 2002; Plumb & Cowan, 1984; Williams, Goodman, & Green, 1985) and what it means for children and adults who are tomboys (Morgan, 1998; Williams et al., 1985). These and further questions necessitate understanding the correlates and consequences for children exhibiting tomboy behaviors. This study aims to address these gaps in the literature as part of a longitudinal study assessing children's gendered attitudes, relationships, and beliefs. A group of 4th grade girls (N=98), were administered questionnaires asking them about their tomboy gender identity and related behaviors and beliefs. The first research question concerns how we identify tomboys through parent, teacher, and child self-report, and the application of groupings of tomboys as never, sometimes, and always tomboys. It was found that children who fall into different classifications of tomboyism differ on their similarity to own- and other-sex peers on a number of dimensions (e.g. similarity, peer preference, activity preference). Never tomboys had the most similarity and interest to own-sex peers, always tomboys, to other-sex peers, and sometimes tomboys exhibited the most flexibility with interest similar to both own- and other-sex peers. Peer-related adjustment consequences and experiences were considered for the different groups of tomboys, with always tomboys being the most efficacious with other-sex peers, never tomboys being the most efficacious with own-sex peers, and sometimes tomboys showing both own- and other-sex peer interactions and the least exclusion of any group. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Family and Human Development 2012

Moje diplomová práce se věnuje tomu, jakým způsobem přistupují vyučující na druhém stupni základních škol k dívkám a chlapcům, kteří jsou genderově atypičtí. Tedy k dětem, kteří nesplňují představu "správné" dívky či "správného" chlapce z hlediska genderového řádu společnosti a nějakým způsobem se těmto představám vymykají (v rovině osobnostní, vzhledové či behaviorální). Ve výzkumu se zajímám o zkušenost vyučujících s těmito dětmi, o charakteristiky, jenž jsou podle nich genderově atypické, jak tyto děti podle nich přijímá kolektiv či učitelský sbor, apod., avšak podstatou mého zkoumání je zjistit, jaký postoj vůči těmto dětem učitelé a učitelky zaujímají a co jej ovlivňuje. Z výsledků výzkumu pak vyplývá, že existuje určitá typologie postojů vyučujících k genderově atypickým dětem, přičemž jednotlivé postoje vyučujících jsou ovlivňovány mnoha faktory. Faktor, který se ukázal jako nejdůležitější, protože významně ovlivňuje to, zda se bude jedna spíše o pozitivní či negativní přijetí dítěte, je to, zda projevy atypického dítěte narušují či znesnadňují vyučování a práci vyučujícího, nikoliv pouhá skutečnost, že je dítě genderově atypické. Tato práce je tvořena dvěma částmi: teoretickou a empirickou. V teoretické části se zabývám informacemi, které jsou základem pro můj výzkum a v rámci celé práce z...

This paper examines the expansive history of literary tomboys in the century preceding Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868). Applying concepts from gender performativity theory, it explores earlier and previously overlooked portrayals of tomboys (or, alternatively, "hoydens" or "romps"), especially in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's A Trip to Scarborough (1777), Isaac Bickerstaffe's The Romp; A Comic Opera in Two Acts (1786), Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1817), and E.D.E.N. Southworth's The Hidden Hand (1859). Because the tomboy phenomenon emphasizes that gender roles must be learned and can be resisted, tomboy characters are implicitly making a feminist point. As such, in the gap between Austen and Southworth, texts with minor and derogatory mentions of tomboys connect tomboyism with the prevailing anti-feminism of the early nineteenth century. By examining the developmental arc of tomboyism throughout literature and culture, this essay develops a greater understanding of how tomboyism fits within different historical periods and was a fully recognizable type in Britain and America decades before Alcott's Jo March supposedly normalized it in popular culture.