Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Where’ve all the tomboys gone?

Girls of today don’t wanna play ball no more... Here’s all the dope!

I remember when I was in school, full-length pants reaching up to the ankles, collared t-shirts and caps were my thing, more than those frilly pink dresses and dolls. Although most of my girl friends crinkled their nose at the mention of boys and sports, few of us had the least qualms in picking up the bat or gearing up for a bicycle race with them. Least bothered about the kind of demeanour a girl should display, I must admit, I kind of relished the title of ‘tomboy’ bestowed upon me in school.

Today, when I look at school going kids, the involvement in outdoor sports and games seems to have been substituted with discussions of flames and crushes. So more than the ‘Look, we are better’ competition that once shaped boy-girl interaction, it has now been replaced with ‘Better look at me!’ And which is why I don’t see much of my kind of childhood days in the kids of the present generation. When asked about this observation of Mrs. Rose, a school teacher, she said, “Times are very different from what it was 5-7 years ago. Back then, I could easily spot about 7-8 girls from a class of 40 who were tomboys. They would want to stay abreast with all the activities that boys were involved in, they would want to dress up like them, with their ties hanging loose, socks rolled down and the sleeves of the shirts rolled up on the arm.” Mrs. Rose has now observed the number of girls with that tomboy attitude diminishing. “These days, girls are extremely conscious of their sexuality from a very young age, and are also very aware of the attraction factor between boys and girls. That’s why they are more involved in girl activities like dressing up and consciously behaving like the way girls are supposed to. I’ve noticed that now-a-days girls talk about boys, fashion and accessories from a very young age, which was not the case a few years ago,” she said. The change in lifestyle patterns is also influenced by the media to a large extent. Previously, it was more of a competition to stand up together with the boys which probably brought in the idea of being like them. Reena Pandey, a mother of two daughters has much to add to that.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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