The list of tomboys in literature, film, videogames and comics is extremely long and features very different young women, from Jo March out of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women to the indomitable rebel Tank Girl from the eponymous comic by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin.
The character of a girl behaving like a boy actually worked pretty well in comics and fiction especially during the '50s when women's roles were mainly staying at home and taking care of the family. The story behind the novel Tomboy by Hal Ellson, published in 1950 in the States and released by Corgi in Great Britain in 1952 (and quite often reprinted in later decades) was for example a classic tale of juvenile delinquency and gangs.
The comic Tomboy debuted instead in 1954, and it was first drawn by veteran comic artist Mort Meskin and later on by Edvard Morit. The story in this case focused on a masked and caped teenage female heroine, the enemy of gangsters, villains and thugs. Less heroic Li'l Tomboy by Frank Johnson (published in the late '60s) was instead the classic brat who disobeys her parents, favours boyish sports rather than traditonal girls' activities and plays pranks against teachers and friends.
One of the latest "Tomboy" references appears in a fashion-related comic, Alan Moore and Malcolm McLaren's Fashion Beast. The gender bending assistant of designer Celestine that (the gender bending) protagonist Doll Seguin meets at the fashion house wears indeed throughout the story a sweatshirt and a sleeves top emblazoned with the "Tomboy" slogan.
Funnily enough the "tomboy" is trendy again: quite a few celebrities out there - Rita Ora, Jourdan Dunn, Lou Doillon - have recently been photographed sporting "Tomboy" sweatshirts, swimwear and accessories from the Spring/Summer 2013 collection of label Filles à Papa, founded by Belgian sisters Carol and Sarah Piron.
The design duo find their inspiration in punk and rock'n'roll, but it's disappointing to see that today's "tomboys" do not actually have any connections with the daredevils who preceded them, they not execute any incredible airplane stunts, do not catch any criminals, do not punch guys and, above all, though talented in their own ways, do not have anything vitally interesting to say to the world.
It's as if "tomboy" has turned from a dreaded young woman behaving like a boy to a dreaded vapid trend for young women - quite sad in a world in which there are incredibly strong women such as brave and determined Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai who last Friday addressed the UN in her speech - the first since being shot by Taliban militants last October 2012 - inspired by Mahatama Gandhi's path of non-violence and asking the right of education for every child. The time has definitely come for fashion (and not just for it...) to start looking at more inspiring and stronger role models...
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