The Tomboy Question(s)

[Zero Day Defense]

I've noticed what appears to be a burgeoning interest (on the internet, at least) in the tomboy subculture... but not quite from girls. At least, not as far as I can tell.

No, it appears there's a burgeoning appreciation/fetishization of tomboys by young men, sometimes brought up/implied as they lament the social forces that convince them to attempt to "become the boy they were meant to be" with SRS and HRT instead. Myself, I've talked about the potential usefulness of the subculture in steering girls away from something so dangerous while still providing space to explore interests not as well-aligned with female cultural norms-- perhaps with more optimism than warranted.

I found this worth considering somewhat more seriously after about the third or fourth time of seeing someone tearing their sackcloth about the tomboy genocide (okay, that's an exaggeration), and I found it worth sharing some of the prompts I came up with in my consideration:

• Where did this come from, if it's indeed a burgeoning interest?
• What are some of the rationales you have or have heard in justification of individual interest in women of this subculture?
• Are there any recurring psychologies within the subculture more complex than "I gravitate towards boyish things" (e.g. "I wish I was born a boy")?
• How much of this would you imagine is "respecters" more likely merely having a short hair fetish and/or being primed to respond to girls in snapbacks with sexual arousal?
• How much "fault" would you attribute to anime comics, video games, and animation?

Feel free to discuss beyond the questions.

 

[Maurice Caine]

• Where did this come from, if it's indeed a burgeoning interest?
• What are some of the rationales you have or have heard in justification of individual interest in women of this subculture?
• Are there any recurring psychologies within the subculture more complex than "I gravitate towards boyish things" (e.g. "I wish I was born a boy")?
• How much of this would you imagine is "respecters" more likely merely having short hair fetish and/or are primed to respond to girls in snapbacks with sexual arousal?
• How much "fault" would you attribute to anime comics, video games, and animation?

Feel free to discuss beyond the questions.

• Anime
• It's a fetish
• Don't know
• 99.9% of them
• Watch Azumanga Daioh and you'll find out.

 

[Kurt Eichenwald]

It's %100 fetish and it's not new but now that it's a meme the tomboy love will spread. Idk how much else there is to say because how this happened is quite simple. Some people think girls look hotter with short hair and a flannel shirt, but they don't know anyone who matches that description and also wants the eichenwood, so these people are salty as fuck at everything similar, like ftms and lesbos.

 

[Geralt of Rivia]

It's the transition phase from liking girls to liking traps. Also a dead meme.

 

[LurkNoMore]

• Where did this come from, if it's indeed a burgeoning interest?

Tomboys. Seriously anything a woman does some man will find attractive sooner or later.

• What are some of the rationales you have or have heard in justification of individual interest in women of this subculture?

Seriously, man see woman, man like woman. Why does a male warthog like a female warthog? Because he's meant to. Simple as.

• Are there any recurring psychologies within the subculture more complex than "I gravitate towards boyish things" (e.g. "I wish I was born a boy")?

Lol, all of them on countless occasions.

• How much of this would you imagine is "respecters" more likely merely having short hair fetish and/or are primed to respond to girls in snapbacks with sexual arousal?

All of them. Seriously.

• How much "fault" would you attribute to anime comics, video games, and animation?

None. Weather the mentioned exists or not. Men will find women no matter what, for the most part, attractive.

 

[themasterlurker]

Another fantasization of a type of woman that hardly exists

 

[Schway]

As for rationalizations I personally think that whether people realize it or not a large part of the attraction to tomboys is the femininity, however counterintuitive that might feel. Tomboys are portrayed as inexperienced and shy when it comes to love. That seems cute and "pure" to guys so it's attractive. It makes them seem more genuine.

As to why it's popular, probably anime and the lack of that type of more naive femininity.

 

[Vulva Gape]

It's cause your gay. Why do you like masculinity?

 

[The Lawgiver]

the tomboy fetishization shit is fucking skeevy as hell and kinda gross but tomboys are fucking cool. The term is meant to be used as a referential term to females not giving a shit about whats socially acceptable for gender roles and the less people get hung up about gender bullshit the better. Stay the FUCK away from self described tomboys though as they are almost 99% of the time some fucking crazy ass basic snowflake bitch who will inevitably spiral into the genders and labels game or attempt to use you. There are exceptions but be fucking wary around those kinda people.

There's also like that whole "tomboy extinction" phenomena you sometimes hear rumblings about because kids and adults are getting their heads FILLED with current year gender bullshit and a lot of the time whenever the label IS used by someone these days it's by some thot that shows none of the actual traits of what a tomboy actually is doing the self proclaiming thing and it's treated as a fucking accessory. Then there's the people that have an unhealthy obsession with Tomboy stereotypes and end up commiting simping on some self proclaimed tomboy. It's a viscious system and it's destroying all meaning of what used to be a useful word to describe an aspect of someone else.

I'm running on an entire days no sleep so this might not be coming out too good right now lmao.

 

[Taco Bell Chihuahua]

Are there any recurring psychologies within the subculture more complex than "I gravitate towards boyish things" (e.g. "I wish I was born a boy")?

Feel free to discuss beyond the questions.

I can think of a reason why women gravitate towards the tomboy aesthetic.

We live in an age where the modern woman have to work more often than not. The economy is not what it used to be and the roles of women in society have changed. Being a stay at home wife or mother is not a concept a lot of people can afford anymore. So what do women choose to do for careers? Well, they explore their interests in working fields just as any man would do.
Let’s talk about entry level blue collar and labor jobs, a primarily male dominated work force. The payout for the jobs is lucrative, with benefit packages and bonuses abound. But being a woman coming into these environments, it’s rough to say the least. I am speaking from many years of personal experience. I don’t want to say a lot of men in blue collar hate women because it frames them poorly, and there are good people and bad people. However a majority of these men are skeptical of a woman’s role in hard labor. There tends to be a strong boys club mentality to these jobs, and women just don’t fit their age old narratives.
So what do women do to adapt to these environments? I’ve found they embrace the tomboy label. It is extremely isolating for a woman to come into a job where they feel alone, unwelcome, and even hated. Women in this field will often be the only woman on their team. Whether they care about that or not, the men they work with do. They are subject to harsher scrutiny than their peers. I can’t tell you how many times men, or even other women have told me that I should know my place and that I’m doing a mans job. People actively take pleasure in my failures and hate my successes, and have told me as much, because I don’t belong.
Blue collar isn’t the only field this happens in, it’s just the one I’m in and can speak on. I don’t want this to come off as seethe. I understand why this happens, and I accepted it when I accepted this as my career. Turning a wrench and mechanical work brings me joy, and that’s why I do it at the end of the day. But I do it as a woman, not a woman trying to be man. And that’s a mentality women in this line of work struggle with often.
When I first started out I found myself thinking often how I wished I was a man, not out of any desire to transition or give up my femininity, but just to gain respect. I have long since outgrown that mentality and I recommend to others in a similar situations to do the same. But I do think that’s why there’s at a surge in tomboy culture. Women doing jobs that only men used to do.

As for it being some kind of fetish I can’t really speak on that.

 

[Idiot Asshole]

While I'm sure that there are normal, well-adjusted men who find women acting boyish attractive the Internet dork variety of tomboy respecting is just a fetish, mostly borne out of being attracted to girls but not understanding and being scared to interact with them so they envisage the "perfect" woman that they can actually talk to who is basically a guy with a vagina.

 

[Scolopendra Dramatica]

Cause hyper-femme is mainstream currently and this is the starts of it swinging the other way.

Used to be loads of 'tomboys' when I was younger, at least by today's standards and now they're being encouraged to troon out; men see cute women in trouble and want to be their saviour.

It's a modern take on an age old male protective instinct. Plus tomboys will likely seem less alien to men and they're the physical opposite of the tarty looking, heavily made up girls you see these days.

It's also the equivalent of fancying goth girls before the goth girls became a popular commodity

 

[A Welsh Cake]

Yamato Nadeshiko is still the best anime originating cultural unrealistic expectation, fight me.

 

[Billy Beer]

Eh? I don't get this. It must be something on the internet that has passed me by

One of my old gf's was a traditional 'tom boy' because she liked to work on/modify cars and would rather wild camp than stay in a pampered hotel. But, she dressed and looked like a normal woman (feminine it used to be called before the perverts and gays took the word).

So this 'fetishisation' is really strange to me. Plenty of 'tomboy' women exist out there, they just don't dress up in a big neon sign saying "IM A TOMBOY"

I thought labels and 'dress-codes' were high school shit?

 

[byuu]

They're heckin cute and valid.

 

[Just Another Apocalypse]

"Very well,” it is said, and the Tomboy herself says it, “the Tomboy is to become emancipated not as a Tomboy, not because she is a Tomboy, not because she possesses such an excellent, universally human principle of morality; on the contrary, the Tomboy will retreat behind the citizen and be a citizen, although she is a Tomboy and is to remain a Tomboy. That is to say, she is and remains a Tomboy, although she is a citizen and lives in universally human conditions: her Tomboyish and restricted nature triumphs always in the end over his human and political obligations. The prejudice remains in spite of being outstripped by general principles. But if it remains, then, on the contrary, it outstrips everything else."

On the Tomboy question.

 

[Cum Laudely]

You got some unresolved gay in you if you want a wig on one of your bros and want to wave the gay away with a wand. Much like the stereotype around the "hyper masculine" guys are compensating for the gay they are hiding on the inside. I feel its the same with Tomboy lovers if you want masculine features in your women you got some unresolved gay in you. I feel this issue gets super convoluted because no one can agree on what fucking makes a tomboy exactly too. So that doesn't help, just because a girl is fit doesn't make her a tomboy. Just because a girl plays sports doesn't mean she's a tomboy. Just because she got short hair doesn't make her a tomboy. Have you ever done martial arts with long hair? The point of short hair is to stay cooler than you would if you had long hair. You don't want something easy for your opponent to grab on and your hair doesn't get in your face. Theres a lot of utility in short hair. A woman can do these things and still retain her feminity. So the more activities and hobbies women are involved in, the less spaces for a "tomboy" to actually fit in. So I feel for the guys looking for such features in a woman they gotta work out the gay in them.

 

[John Furrman]

Tom boys are exclusively children and people who appreciate them are exclusively pedophiles.

 

[Burning Urethra]

Obligatory tomboy pasta in the box below, click right to get mad instead. If you feel an immediate urge to call gay those men who like women with short hair / comfy or fit styles / whatever doesn't fit the long hair, shoveled on makeup, summer dress UwU girl aesthetic, it's you who is insecure, possibly because you've been a homo all along. (Did you really expect more than "no u"?)

Spoiler

Tomboys are the ultimate straight man's choice. A regular girl has tits and pussy but comes loaded with gay shit such as makeup, desire for shopping clothes and useless shit and watching boring shitty tv shows.

A gay dude is gay but he has a partner that shares his interests.

A tomboy is the best of both worlds, a female body but with enough /fit/ness to keep up with you, good interests and great personality

A trap is 200% gay. Not only are you fucking a dude, you are also putting up with the faggotry of a female

I do agree that nobody actually has an accepted definition of the tomboy. It doesn't really matter to me in any case, I just really like short hair, not that much a fan of /fit/ girls.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Don't worry. Globohomo is working on a Final Solution to the Tomboy Question.