Cat Fight In The Kitchen-Wattpad Rant

Tomboys

Wait, what? I updated two weeks in a row? Someone should give me a sticker or something.

I feel like everyone knew this rant was coming, because we've touched on it a lot in other rants (and because I keep getting requests for it), so let's talk about that female character that has become incredibly popular: Tomboys

Y'all know what I'm about to say. I was (and probably still am, though am I too old for that? Who knows) considered a tomboy growing up. I couldn't help it. I lived with my dad. I had an older brother and a guy for a best friend who had two brothers. I grew up on a football field half a year and a basketball court the other half. Hell, I stayed the weekend with my dad just so we could watch the Superbowl together, because even though neither of us cared who won, we've watched the Superbowl together since I was born. It's tradition. We love sports.

It's always been a running joke for as long as I can remember that I'm the son my dad never had (even though he had a son (my older brother)).

But this tomboy is becoming a problem, because lately I see theme everywhere and they're kind of a limiting character type. Why? Because they give in too much to stereotypes. In order to have a tomboy you have to have a female that takes interest in classically "male" things. But, wait. Why should we stereotype things by boy and girl interest?

Who gets to decide what kinds of things are for boys and what kinds of things are for girls? Girls can like sports. Boys can like fashion. Girls can like sciences and maths. Boys can like literacy and arts. Everyone bitches about stereotyping genders and whatnot, but how come no one ever says anything when it comes to tomboys and girly girls? You have to, by definition, stereotype boy things and girl things to decide whether or not your character is a tomboy, right?

And they always say stupid shit like "I'm not like other girls". Of course not. All girls aren't supposed to be alike. All boys aren't supposed to be alike. People aren't supposed to be alike. That's the beauty of it all. So, before I take this rant in a seriously ranty direction, let's jump in to the main points I have on tomboys.

1. Typical appearance/dress

So the tomboy never wears skirts, dresses, heels, etc. They stick to (skinny these days, in my day, it was baggy) jeans or sweats, t-shirts, and sneakers (usually Converse). In my day, wearing tank tops was a big deal, and I still see that occasionally because they usually are thought of as a more masculine concept (suns out guns out, right?) Always. They also always have their hair up in a ponytail or braid. That or they have super short haircuts. They're also usually on the tiny side, because it highlights their feistiness.

And I hate to admit it, but you just got an insanely accurate picture of me throughout all of high school and middle school. Although, in high school I did start wearing my hair down. And to be fair, I usually wore t-shirts and loose jeans because I worked out in the mornings and afternoons and I didn't have time to (nor did I feel like) dressing nicely.

But I don't know why they have to have this typical appearance? What's the point? They never wear makeup (except some foundation and mascara and eye liner (which, in my book is wearing makeup and it irritates me when I see that. That's legitimately full face (or was in my day. We didn't even have primer back then, okay? Shut up))). "Tomboys" should be able to care about their appearance. Even if they like guy stuff, why can't they care how they look?

So they wanna wear a nice shirt? Guys wanna wear nice shirts. Girls can wear makeup and not have to be considered a full on girly-girl. They should be able to do really cool hairstyles without it being an effort to make them more masculine. Didn't I even tell you guys that my best friend (a guy in case you haven't picked up on that in the last 100+ chapters...) used to braid my hair for me? True story.