Editing Tomboy (section)

==Psychobehavioral aspects==
=== Child development ===
[[File:Tomboy wikipedia hatpants.jpg|thumb|Tomboy is often a phase of gender presentation in childhood. It is not a true indicator of sexual orientation or future gender display.]]
Tomboy can be seen as a phase of gender presentation in adolescence.<ref name="Plumb-1984">{{Cite journal |last1=Plumb |first1=Pat |last2=Cowan |first2=Gloria |date=May 1984 |title=A developmental study of destereotyping and androgynous activity preferences of tomboys, nontomboys, and males |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF00287381 |journal=Sex Roles |language=en |volume=10 |issue=9–10 |pages=703–712 |doi=10.1007/BF00287381 |s2cid=143885856 |issn=0360-0025}}</ref> Some parents might be concerned by the lack of femininity in their child but the tomboy phase is, in fact, crucial to physical development between the ages of 8 and 13, according to [[Joseph Lee (recreation advocate)|Joseph Lee]], the playground movement advocate in 1915.<ref name="Lee-1915" /> Some girls start to embrace femininity as age increases while some persist to be tomboys in adulthood.<ref name="Plumb-1984" />

Psychologists speculate that childhood tomboy behavior results from a young child's innate curiosity combined with family dynamics and imposed societal gender roles and behavioral customs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adegbenro |first=Adeyinka |date=2019-11-19 |title=Why girls become tomboys |url=https://medium.com/@adeyinkaadegbenro/why-girls-become-tomboys-9a8e08daee6b |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref> The preference of athletics and masculine clothing can be explained by adolescent tomboys' curiosity about outdoors and physical games, by which comfortable clothing such as pants and jersey helps to facilitate their physical engagement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=JONES |first=OWAIN |date=1999-06-01 |title=Tomboy Tales: The rural, nature and the gender of childhood |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09663699925060 |journal=Gender, Place & Culture |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=117–136 |doi=10.1080/09663699925060 |issn=0966-369X}}</ref> A 2002 study suggests that some girls are "born tomboys" because of the higher testosterone levels of the mother during pregnancy.<ref name="ScienceDaily">{{Cite web |title=Study Suggests That Tomboys May Be Born, Not Made |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021112075626.htm |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=ScienceDaily |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.psychometrics.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/testosterone-child-development-2002.pdf |pmid=12487486 |date=2002 |last1=Hines |first1=M. |last2=Golombok |first2=S. |last3=Rust |first3=J. |last4=Johnston |first4=K. J. |last5=Golding |first5=J. |author6=Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Study Team |title=Testosterone during pregnancy and gender role behavior of preschool children: A longitudinal, population study |journal=Child Development |volume=73 |issue=6 |pages=1678–1687 |doi=10.1111/1467-8624.00498 }}</ref> Being a childhood tomboy does not determine one's sexual orientation or life-long gender presentation. <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ahlqvist |first1=Sheana |last2=Halim |first2=May Ling |last3=Greulich |first3=Faith K. |last4=Lurye |first4=Leah E. |last5=Ruble |first5=Diane |date=2013-09-01 |title=The Potential Benefits and Risks of Identifying as a Tomboy: A Social Identity Perspective |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2012.717709 |journal=Self and Identity |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=563–581 |doi=10.1080/15298868.2012.717709 |s2cid=143966649 |issn=1529-8868}}</ref>

===Gender roles===
[[File:Skater Girl - Park Spoor Noord (2967515870).jpg|thumb|Girl riding a [[skateboard]]]]
The idea that there are girl activities and clothing, and that there are boy activities and clothing, is often reinforced by the tomboy concept. Tomboyism can be seen as both refusing [[gender role]]s and traditional gender conventions, but also conforming to gender stereotypes.<ref name="Halberstam">{{cite book |last=Halberstam |first=Judith |url=https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi |title=Female Masculinity |publisher=Duke University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0822322439 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi/page/193 193]–196 |quote=Hollywood film offers us a vision of the adult tomboy as the predatory butch dyke: in this particular category, we find some of the best and worst of Hollywood stereotyping. |access-date=2019-12-18 |url-access=registration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429121018/https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi |archive-date=2018-04-29 |url-status=live}}</ref> The concept may be considered outdated or looked at from a positive viewpoint.<ref name="Halberstam-1988">{{Cite book|last=Halberstam|first=Judith|date=1988|title=Female Masculinity|doi=10.1215/9780822378112|isbn=978-0-8223-2226-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi|access-date=2019-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429121018/https://archive.org/details/femalemasculinit00judi|archive-date=2018-04-29|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Feminine]] traits are often devalued and unwanted, and tomboys often respond to this viewpoint. This can be due in part to an environment that desires and only values [[masculinity]], depending on the decade and geographical region. Idealized masculinity is atop the hegemony and sets the traditional standard, and is often upheld and spread by young children playing with one another. Tomboys may view femininity as having been pushed on them, which results in negative feelings toward femininity and those who embrace it.<ref name="Jennings">{{Cite book|last=Jennings |first=Nancy |chapter=One Choice, Many Petals: Reading the Female Voice of Tris in the Divergent Series |edition=1st |year=2016 |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315691633-11/one-choice-many-petals-nancy-jennings |title=Gender(ed) Identities |doi=10.4324/9781315691633-11 |isbn=9781315691633 |access-date=2022-12-03}}</ref> In this case, masculinity may be seen as a defense mechanism against the harsh push toward femininity, and a reclaiming of agency that is often lost due to [[sexist]] ideas of what girls are and are not able to do.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harris|first=Adrienne|date=2000-07-15|title=Gender as a Sort Assembly Tomboys' Stories|journal=Studies in Gender and Sexuality|volume=1|issue=3|pages=223–250|doi=10.1080/15240650109349157|s2cid=144985570|issn=1524-0657}}</ref>

In western culture, tomboys are expected to one day cease their masculine behavior, usually during or right before puberty, return to feminine behavior, and are expected to embrace [[heteronormativity]]. Tomboys who do not do such are occasionally stigmatized, usually due to [[homophobia]]. Barbara Creed argues that the tomboy's "image undermines patriarchal gender boundaries that separate the sexes", and thus is a "threatening figure".<ref name="Creed-2017">{{Citation|last=Creed|first=Barbara|chapter=Lesbian Bodies: Tribades, Tomboys and Tarst|date=2017-09-25|pages=111–124|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-315-09410-6|doi=10.4324/9781315094106-13|title=Feminist Theory and the Body}}</ref> This "threat" affects and challenges the idea of what a family must look like, generally nuclear independent heterosexual couplings with two children.<ref name="Proehl">{{Cite thesis |year=2011 |title=Battling girlhood: sympathy, race and the tomboy narrative in American literature |last=Proehl |first=Kristen Beth |oclc=724578046 |doi=10.21220/s2-3741-jk05 }}</ref>

Gender scholar [[Jack Halberstam]]<!-- NOTE: Both names are included because although the author prefers to be called Jack, the author is better known as "Judith", especially with regard to women's topics, and allows the use of both names.-->  argues that while the defying of gender roles is often tolerated in young girls, [[adolescence|adolescent]] girls who show masculine traits are often repressed or punished.<ref name="Halberstam" /> However, the ubiquity of traditionally female clothing such as skirts and dresses has declined in the [[Western world]] since the 1960s, where it is generally no longer considered a male trait for girls and women not to wear such clothing. An increase in the popularity of women's sporting events (see [[Title IX]]) and other activities that were traditionally male-dominated has broadened tolerance and lessened the impact of "tomboy" as a [[pejorative]] term.<ref name="Bailey" /> Sociologist [[Barrie Thorne]] suggested that some adult women take pride in describing their childhood selves as tomboys, "as if to suggest: I was (and am) independent and active; I held (and hold) my own with boys and men and have earned their respect and friendship; I resisted (and continue to resist) gender stereotypes".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gender play: boys and girls in school|last=Thorne|first=Barrie|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=1993|isbn=0-8135-1923-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/genderplaygirlsb00thor/page/114 114]|url=https://archive.org/details/genderplaygirlsb00thor/page/114}}</ref>

In the Philippines, tomboys are masculine-presenting women who have relations with other women, with the other women tending to be more feminine, although not exclusively, or [[transmasculine]] people who have relationships with women; the former appears more common than the latter.<ref name="Fajardo-2008">{{Cite journal |last=Fajardo |first=K. B. |date=2008-01-01 |title=TRANSPORTATION: Translating Filipino and Filipino American Tomboy Masculinities through Global Migration and Seafaring |journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies |volume=14 |issue=2–3 |pages=403–424 |doi=10.1215/10642684-2007-039 |issn=1064-2684 |s2cid=142268960}}</ref> Women who engage in romantic relationships with other women, but who are not masculine, are often still deemed heterosexual. This leads to more invisibility for those that are lesbian and feminine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nadal |first1=Kevin L. |last2=Corpus |first2=Melissa J. H. |date=September 2013 |title="Tomboys" and "baklas": Experiences of lesbian and gay Filipino Americans. |journal=Asian American Journal of Psychology |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=166–175 |doi=10.1037/a0030168 |issn=1948-1993}}</ref> Scholar Kale Bantigue Fajardo argues for the similarity between "tomboy" in the Philippines and "[[Homosexuality in Indonesia#LGBT in Indonesia|tombois in Indonesia]]", and "[[Gender identities in Thailand#Tom identity|toms in Thailand]]" all as various forms of female masculinity.<ref name="Fajardo-2008" /> In China, tomboys are called "假小子" ([[Pinyin]]: jiáxiǎozi), which literally translates as "pseudo-boy". This term is largely used as a derogatory term to describe those girls with masculine characteristics.<ref name="www.yingyushijie.com">{{Cite web |title="女汉子"与"假小子"-商务印书馆英语世界 |url=http://www.yingyushijie.com/information/detail/id/2616.html |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=www.yingyushijie.com}}</ref> Most of the times calling someone a "假小子" is a humiliation which implies that the individual could not find a boyfriend.<ref name="www.yingyushijie.com" /> This largely reduces the value of women to only romance and diminishes girls' confidence in working in what is traditionally defined as the "boy's realm.<ref name="www.yingyushijie.com" />"

===Sexual orientation===
====Association of tomboyism with lesbianism====

During the 20th century, [[Freudian psychology]] and backlash against [[LGBT social movements]] resulted in societal fears about the sexualities of tomboys, and this caused some to question whether tomboyism leads to [[lesbian]]ism.<ref name="Abate">{{cite book |last1=Abate |first1=Michelle Ann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pYdrZNd7B1sC&q=wholesome |title=Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History |date=2008 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-59213-722-0}}</ref> Throughout history, there has been a perceived correlation between tomboyishness and lesbianism.<ref name="ELHAC">{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Jayne Relaford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0EUoCrFolGcC |title=Encyclopedia of Lesbian Histories and Cultures |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |isbn=0815319207 |editor=B. Zimmerman |pages=771–772 |chapter=Tomboy |quote=The word [tomboy] also has a history of sexual, even lesbian, connotations. [ ... ] The connection between tomboyism and lesbianism continued, in a more positive way, as a frequent theme in twentieth-century lesbian literature and nonfiction coming out stories. |access-date=21 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908201215/https://books.google.com/books?id=0EUoCrFolGcC |archive-date=8 September 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Halberstam" /> For instance, Hollywood films would stereotype the adult tomboy as a "predatory [[Butch (lesbian slang)|butch]] [[Dyke (slang)|dyke]]".<ref name="Halberstam" /> Lynne Yamaguchi and Karen Barber, editors of ''Tomboys! Tales of Dyke Derring-Do'', argue that "tomboyhood is much more than a phase for many lesbians"; it "seems to remain a part of the foundation of who we are as adults".<ref name="ELHAC" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Tomboys! Tales of Dyke Derring-Do |year=1995 |editor=Yamaguchi, Lynne and Karen Barber |location=Los Angeles |isbn=9781555832858 |publisher=Alyson Publications }}</ref> Many contributors to ''Tomboys!'' linked their self-identification as tomboys and lesbians to both labels positioning them outside "cultural and gender boundaries".<ref name="ELHAC" /> Psychoanalyst Dianne Elise's essay in 1995 reported that more lesbians noted being a tomboy than straight women.<ref name="king">{{cite magazine |last1=King |first1=Elizabeth |date=2017-01-05 |title=A Short History of the Tomboy |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/tomboy/512258/ |url-status=live |magazine=The Atlantic |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108210903/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/tomboy/512258/ |archive-date=2017-01-08 |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref>

==== Misconception ====
While some tomboys later reveal a lesbian identity in their adolescent or adult years, behavior typical of boys but displayed by girls is not a true indicator of one's [[sexual orientation]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Gabriel Phillips |author2=Ray Over |name-list-style=amp |year=1995 |title=Differences between heterosexual, bisexual, and lesbian women in recalled childhood experiences |journal=[[Archives of Sexual Behavior]] |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1007/BF01541985 |pmid=7733801 |s2cid=23296942}}</ref>  With raising female liberation and gender-neutral playgrounds (at least in the US) in the 21st century, an increasing number of girls could technically be considered "tomboys" without being referred to as "tomboys" because it is considered normal for girls to engage in physical activities, play equally with boys, and wear pants, masculine or gender-neutral clothing. The association between lesbianism and tomboyism is not only outdated but can also be disrespectful to both heterosexual women and lesbians.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Craig |first=Traci |date=October 2011 |title=Tomboy as Protective Identity |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51698091 |journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies|volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=450–465 |doi=10.1080/10894160.2011.532030 |pmid=21973066 |s2cid=35791467 }}</ref>