An excerpt from “Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different” (August 2020), by Linda Selin Davis:
“When each tomboy heyday ended, childhood became gendered as never before.”
Author: Lisa Selin Davis
Lisa Selin Davis is an essayist, novelist and journalist who has written for major publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Time, Yahoo and Salon, among many others. She lives with her family in New York. Davis continues to write for major publications such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Women's Day, Bustle, Salon, Yahoo, Time Out and more, and her articles often open the door to both debate and celebration. Most recently, in December 2018, another article she wrote for the New York Times, “Like Tomboys and Hate Girlie Girls? That's Sexist,” went viral and sparked almost 400 comments. In 2017, her Guardian article “For Years I Thought She Was Stealing My Identity Until I Found Her” sparked 551 comments and record-breaking shares for the paper.
The Ms. Q&A: What Does it Mean to be a Tomboy?
Two books that interrogate tomboys are being published in August. The authors discuss their findings about gender and what it means to be a tomboy.