Wikipedia defines a Tomboy as a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of a boy, including wearing masculine clothing and engaging in games and activities that are physical in nature and are considered in many cultures to be "unfeminine" or the domain of boys.[2] Tomboy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), "has been connected with connotations of rudeness and impropriety" throughout its use.
Though these definitions are not entirely true, some people also consider a Tomboy as a man living in a woman's body. All these stereotypes really amuse me. Having been tagged a 'tomboy' most part of my life, I feel any girl who does not stick to clichés has conveniently been labeled as a tomboy. Today's post is dedicated to some of the struggles of being a tomboy such as:
1. You're too lazy for make-up: A lot of girls love flipping through fashion magazines and take notes on the latest fads, accessories and make-up et al. A tomboy will read the juicy bits, skip the sex quiz, flip through the 'will have to sell a kidney to buy these clothes' pages, yawn over the agony aunts/uncles, laugh at people wanting to share details of their partner's private parts instead of going to an expert, feel sorry for the men who're trying too hard to be sexy in their mile long beards (that's just gross OK) and finish the glossy in 5 minutes. Between all of this rehashed material will lie 5 pages dedicated to stuff that will never make you look like the model who has been photoshopped to the point of plastic surgery. Yup, we realise that spending wads of cash on make-up will only go waste because if years of watching movies, secretly watching FTV (while it was still popular) and fast-forwarding a 10 minute make-up tutorial didn't convince us, maybe it's time we gave up trying.
2. You only play dress up twice a year: Who doesn't like dressing up? So does a tomboy. Slightly related to point no. 1, dressing up is also a task we're too lazy to do, but you can't live in a society and not be a part of it right. So you play dress up for weddings (which you wish you could attend in PJs because honestly everyone is too busy gossiping about the bride's clothes to notice you) which happen not very often in a year unless you're a social butterfly and have to be at every wedding in the city.
3. Colours confuse us: We can't for the love of God differentiate between Hot Pink, Magenta and Fuschia!
4. Three pairs of heels can last three years: Black, silver, golden, don't they match everything?
5. Day-long shopping trips can be so exhausting: Most tomboys can finish shopping for clothes/shoes/groceries/miscellaneous in half an hour flat. We jump on any opportunity to be excused from window-shopping around town.
6. People don't take you seriously: By people I want to focus more on friends as typically you would have more male friends than female ones and it'll almost be impossible for you to come out of 'one of the guys' image forever. The handful of female friends will find you endearing in your ways in sometimes trying to blend in, alas you'll still be doing a cute job at it.
7. You'd wish you could wear jeans everywhere: Whoever said comfort over style was maybe your idol. Maybe it was the same person who got fired for wearing shorts to a client meeting but of course what could be more comfortable.
8. Personal hygiene is a necessity, personal grooming is a social evil: Waxing, threading, manicures, pedicures, facials, hair colour and nail extensions. The world could do with so much money if all these things weren't hyped as much a they are.
9. Jewellery doesn't excite you so much. Also, piercings hurt like hell!
10. Lastly, your parents can use you as their handyman whenever they want. You are mostly assigned duties of a driver (also because you like driving), sometimes an electrician (putting bulbs, changing plugs), IT guy (fixing the internet, giving tutorials on net usage and privacy), runner (to fetch the handyman) and also the domestic help when groceries get over.
It is tough no doubt to not conform to stereotypes but it is even more fun to break them. :)
