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I don't know where the OP is residing but where I am I'd just like to see an occasional dress or skirt once in awhile.
I grew up my entire life in Southern California, and am now in Northern California.
I've never seen as many women wear skirts and dresses in my entire life, anywhere else, than in Southern California. Also a good amount of women in Northern California wearing skirts and dresses. Funny thing is, even while I was in a conservative Southern state like Louisiana in the extreme heat and humidity I didn't see as many women wearing skirts/dresses.
I guess where you live is just too cold for women in skirts, has nothing to do with being a tomboy. Although Scotland is cold, too, and probably women wear skirts more often there because if even the men wear skirts, they can't get away with not wearing one.
I am a straight guy but am especially attracted to tomboys. I wonder why they are so rare. I know that most straight tomboys grow out of it after puberty so they don't look "butch," but still.
I go to school for engineering, and the reasoning is, because 80% of the profession is male, then any girl who attempts engineering must love hanging out with the guys, doing guys stuff, and not care about their appearance.
Much to my surprise, most girls in my engineering classes are just as feminine as girls majoring in Psychology or English or some other female-majority, humanities majors.
Don't get me wrong, the girls in engineering seem geeky, alright. Geeky, but far from being tomboys. Still very fashionable, talkative, hang out with their girl-friends, etc. Quite disappointing!
I'm not sure why you think tomboys are rare. That's not my observation. Also, I don't know why you're assuming that tomboys would look "butch". They don't. Maybe you're not seeing them, because you have this odd image in mind? These days, it may be hard to tell the difference between the tomboys on campus, and the non-tomboy women, because everyone wears jeans to class. You have to actually get to know people, to find out such a thing about them.
Not sure why you'd think tomboy women don't hang out with their gf's, lol. You've got some funny ideas. Maybe you live in a region of the country that's old-fashioned; women wearing fashion to class, vs. jeans and t-shirts or flannel shirts in the Fall, or whatever? Sounds unusual.
edit: Oh, oops! You're in NorCal? Funny, I'm from there, and hang out there, and around a couple of the campuses, for a month or more every year. I'm not seeing anything but a tiny percentage of dresses/skirts. (Granted, that's more than I ever saw before.) I have a niece who's on one of the Cal campuses as we speak. I don't think she even owns a dress, and she's in a male-dominant grad program, too. Maybe she's your dream? You could check her out, when she's home for winter vacation, in Fremont, if you want....
...... any girl who attempts engineering must love hanging out with the guys, doing guys stuff, and not care about their appearance.
Being a tomboy has nothing to do with wanting to hang out with guys or doing guy stuff and not caring about what guys think of the tomboy's appearance. Tomboys are less interested in human beings than they are in nearly all other things. Being a tomboy is more about the types of interests and occupations there are that will allow the tomboy to be closer and more connected to nature and have less connection to cities and human society and the congestion and chaos created by human society.
If you want to meet real, down-to-earth tomboys you're looking in the wrong places and occupations. You need to be looking at locations away from cities and other highly human populated areas, and looking at occupations that will involve lots of exposure to nature and getting down and dirty with it.
The only reason tomboys get called tomboys is because there are less girls and women than there are boys and men that aren't afraid of meeting the challenges and rigours of getting roughed up and dirty and possibly even risking being injured sometimes while dealing with nature. And because of the kinds of activities they get involved with, tomboys naturally wear sturdy clothing that is practical, utilitarian and suitable to the rough hobbies or work that they do. Most other non-tomboy girls and women are more interested in safety and connection to human society and the fashions that attract humans to other humans.
When I was growing up, Tomboys liked to wear pants and ball caps (not uncommon nowadays), to play with boy's toys, and were more active and sporty, but were not necessarily masculine or gays in waiting. It was a phase that they eventually grew out of. They were not in any way homely, frumpy, or geeky. That was another category of child. Many tomboys are very attractive and social children. However, by high school, no one is called a tomboy (maybe "sporty" at the most), they have generally migrated to a more conventional female role.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jenkay
That's a rather bizarre definition of a tomboy. I'd consider myself a tomboy when I was younger (I don't really consider 'tomboy' to be a valid term anymore since we're not constrained by the same gender norms as we were decades ago) and just because I wasn't into wearing makeup or dresses and was (and still am!) athletic and into science, reading, and the outdoors didn't make me frumpy *or* socially withdrawn, and I have always had PLENTY of friends.
*Sigh*
I am not saying tomboys are frumpy, socially withdrawn, and have no friends. It was an attempt to point out that the opposite of what the OP was complaining about isn't necessarily desirable either. It was part joke, and part an attempt to suggest there's nothing wrong with being fashionable, talkative, and having friends, and doesn't necessarily preclude someone from being a tomboy. I was trying to challenge the OP's expectations and stereotypes and do it with a touch of humor, but clearly if I have to spell that out I shouldn't have bothered.
I go to school for engineering, and the reasoning is, because 80% of the profession is male, then any girl who attempts engineering must love hanging out with the guys, doing guys stuff, and not care about their appearance.
!
OP, women who choose engineering, do so because they're good a match and science, and want a career that capitalizes on those skills, and that pays decently, even well, depending. Basically, the same reasons that men choose engineering. No mystery, there. iT has nothing to do with preferring to hang out with the guys, rather than with women. That's a really odd conclusion to draw. Do guys who major in English or who go into nursing do so, because they prefer women as companions to men? Does it mean they're somehow latently feminine? Do you see how ridiculous that assumption is?
They're not rare. But the funny part is your assumption that they wouldn't care about their appearance. Don't you realize that most boys, who may look like slobs, are still usually very aware of their appearance?
Is it that you like tomboys, or is it really more that you don't want to bother exerting yourself by doing something outside of your usual routine?
I am a straight guy but am especially attracted to tomboys. I wonder why they are so rare. I know that most straight tomboys grow out of it after puberty so they don't look "butch," but still.
I go to school for engineering, and the reasoning is, because 80% of the profession is male, then any girl who attempts engineering must love hanging out with the guys, doing guys stuff, and not care about their appearance.
Much to my surprise, most girls in my engineering classes are just as feminine as girls majoring in Psychology or English or some other female-majority, humanities majors.
Don't get me wrong, the girls in engineering seem geeky, alright. Geeky, but far from being tomboys. Still very fashionable, talkative, hang out with their girl-friends, etc. Quite disappointing!
Wow. This post is so full of sexism, I don't know where to begin.
First, "tomboy" is an old fashioned word that isn't used, anymore. Tomboys weren't gay. Those girls are now called "athletic." Because that's what tomboys were....athletic girls. It just wasn't accepted that girls were athletic back in the old days. They liked softball, playing until they got sweaty, riding bikes, running, jumping, climbing trees.
There's no reason to think that girls in engineering are athletic or not feminine or unattractive or like to "do guy stuff." They want to be engineers for the same reasons you do. Do yu take engineering because you like to do guy stuff, are athletic, and you are not attractive and are slovenly and don't care what you look like?
I don't know why people want to be engineers, but it's for reasons that would have nothing to do with gender. A good income, I would think. Job opportunities. Chance for advancement. And they have a natural ability for whatever skills engineering takes...math or drawing or whatever.
Did you have sisters? You don't seem to know much about women. My brother, who grew up with four sisters, would have had a good laugh at your assumptions about women engineers. I think my brother sees women as people, because he grew up with them. We all have things we're good at, and those things don't make us more male or more female. Is a male who wants to become a chef supposed to be effeminate, because most people who cook are female? No. It's just something he likes to do and is good at, and he can earn a living at it.
If you want to meet athletic women, look for those majoring in PhysEd, or who play tennis or softball or golf or other sport.
Wow. This post is so full of sexism, I don't know where to begin.
Did you have sisters? You don't seem to know much about women. My brother, who grew up with four sisters, would have had a good laugh at your assumptions about women engineers. I think my brother sees women as people, because he grew up with them. We all have things we're good at, and those things don't make us more male or more female. Is a male who wants to become a chef supposed to be effeminate, because most people who cook are female? No. It's just something he likes to do and is good at, and he can earn a living at it.
I do not have any sisters. Not only that, all my female relatives other than my mom are overseas. Doesn't being with my mom count as growing up with a woman?
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