History Commons^™

A Posthumanist Pragmatism: Rereading Tomboys, Aaron Martin, Spurthi Gubbala, Marissa J. Huth, Sarah M. Johnson, Amanda Romaya

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Gender has often dictated the roles and responsibilities that individuals are expected to fulfill. Societies in general still adhere to a strict gender binary system, and have largely been either intolerant of or, at minimum, uncomfortable with those who break from such a system. The tomboy figure has been the recipient of societal judgement for what has been interpreted to be a subversion of and deviance from traditional gender norms, and this has played out in a variety of ways. For instance, literary depictions of the tomboy—as the manifestations of the dominant cultural attitude—have captured both the aversion to as …