She highlights the forces that have shifted what we think of as masculine and feminine, delving into everything from clothing to psychology, history to neuroscience, and the connection between tomboyism, gender identity, and sexuality. In Tomboy, Davis explores the evolution of tomboyism from a Victorian ideal to a twentyfirst century fashion statement, honoring the girls and women-and those who identify otherwise- who stomp all over archaic gender norms. But 'tomboy' seemed like an outdated word-why use a word with 'boy' in it for such girls at all? So was it outdated? In an era where some are throwing elaborate gender reveal parties and others are embracing they/them pronouns, Davis set out to answer that question, and to find out where tomboys fit into our changing understandings of gender.

Her child favored sweatpants and T-shirts over anything pink or princess-themed, just like the sporty, skinned-kneed girls Davis had played with as a kid. So when author and journalist Lisa Selin Davis's six-year-old daughter first called herself a 'tomboy,' Davis was hesitant. We are in the middle of a cultural revolution, where the spectrum of gender and sexual identities is seemingly unlimited. Thanks for listening.Book Description Paperback. So I asked her to talk about that experience, and how we can best support kids like the one she used to be. What I didn’t realize was that Stephanie had been such a child herself: stereotypically masculine, convinced she was really a boy, deeply dysphoric during puberty and, eventually, a woman comfortable in her body. Thus I was a little wary of the name of her organization, because while clearly there’s an element of social contagion in the massive increase in kids identifying as trans, there are also genuinely gender nonconforming, and genuinely gender dysphoric kids out there, not influenced by their peers (other than to, perhaps, feel some shame about how incorrectly masculine or feminine they are). I wanted to have a conversation with Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of the advocacy group Transgender Trend, about her organization, her thoughts on gender dysphoria and her recent award of the British Empire Medal.įor those of you who’ve been reading my stuff for a while, you know I’m still trying to walk a nuanced line, and that I try to report the points and evidence that sometimes both the left and the right media leave out. Welcome to my first recorded interview! Well, actually, I’ve recorded hundreds of interviews in order to write articles, but this is first time I’ve recorded one for other people to listen to.

Lisa selin davis tomboy