The 12 Days of Graphic Novels #3: Tomboy

When I was five and younger, I had a penchant for frilly dresses that had bells in them as well as playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Nintendo. This juxtaposition confused those around me who wanted me to become some kind of Super Girly Girl. Every time I tried to be girly, however, my mom shot it down. That's probably an issue for another blog or several therapy sessions, I don't know.

There has never been anything to accurately represent someone like me in pop culture on a broad level. Sure, there are characters every now and again but there's always some "twist" that I don't relate to at all. Coach Biest on Glee was a revelation to me until we found out the character was transitioning from female to male. That's great and I think there is a place for that type of character on television. However, I felt jaded. Is being a tomboy not good enough? Does that mean I cannot be feminine? I received mixed signals even as an adult due to the fact that there are very few pieces of media where a Tomboy can be the heroine.

Until this year when I read Liz Prince's amazing graphic memoir Tomboy.

 

I expected there to be a "twist" as many of these books are. As I stated previously, these twists are not bad or reflect bad storytelling, it was just something that got my hopes up and stomped all over them.

This book was everything I hoped it would be.

This is the description from Amazon:

Growing up, Liz Prince wasn't a girly girl, dressing in pink tutus or playing Pretty Pretty princess like the other girls in her neighborhood. But she wasn't exactly one of the guys either, as she quickly learned when her Little League baseball coach exiled her to the outfield instead of letting her take the pitcher's mound. Liz was somewhere in the middle, and Tomboy is the story of her struggle to find the place where she belonged.

Tomboy is a graphic novel about refusing gender boundaries, yet unwittingly embracing gender stereotypes at the same time, and realizing later in life that you can be just as much of a girl in jeans and a T-shirt as you can in a pink tutu. A memoir told anecdotally, Tomboy follows author and zine artist Liz Prince through her early childhood into adulthood and explores her ever-evolving struggles and wishes regarding what it means to "be a girl." 

From staunchly refuting anything she perceived as being "girly" to the point of misogyny, to discovering through the punk community that your identity is whatever you make of it, regardless of your gender, Tomboy is as much humorous and honest as it is at points uncomfortable and heartbreaking.

Sure, there were lots of things in her memoir that I didn't relate to but the experiences and feelings she had about her identity were spot on in my middle and high school years...and still to this day. Liz Prince has a fresh perspective in an overly-girly culture where femininity is judged on boobs and hair instead of the basic principle of being a woman.

If you know of a tomboy in your life, suggest this to her. It helped me--me! an "adult"-- realize that I am not alone.  Imagine what this could have done for 7th grade me! Definitely a must read.