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Boyhood for girls
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
Boyhood for girls
SubTitle
American tomboys and the transformation of eroticism, 1900-1940
TitleInfo
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Title
American tomboys and the transformation of eroticism, 1900-1940
Name
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Miller
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Allison
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1972-
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Allison Miller
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Lears
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Jackson
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Jackson Lears
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chair
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Koven
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Seth
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Seth Koven
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internal member
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Hewitt
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Nancy
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Nancy Hewitt
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Fabian
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Ann
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Ann Fabian
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Cahn
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Susan
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Susan Cahn
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Advisory Committee
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outside member
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Rutgers University
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degree grantor
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Graduate School - New Brunswick
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school
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Text
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theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
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2012
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(type = degree)
2012-10
Place
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xx
Language
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eng
Subject
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Topic
History
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TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD_4369
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electronic resource
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application/pdf
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text/xml
Extent
vi, 332 p.
Note
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Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Allison Miller
Abstract
(type = abstract)
This dissertation argues that tomboys are a crucial link in the relationship between
heterosexuality and normative gender expression as they took shape between 1900 and
1940. Tomboys of the first decades of the twentieth century in the United States occupied
the frontlines of major transformations in the histories of feminism, youth culture,
sexuality, and the body. By 1920, New Women and political radicals had won significant
opportunities for boyish girls to continue to be somewhat masculine into adulthood, such
as through education, activism, athletics, and work. At the same time, an increasingly
autonomous urban working-class youth culture demanded a measure of gender
conformity for adolescent girls and boys who wished to be eligible for heterosexual
activity. Although historians often view feminism and the growth of youth culture as
liberatory, adolescent tomboys knew they were contradictory. Liberal adults, including
many feminists, advised them to “be themselves,” but tomboys’ peers ostracized them
from the world of dating and popularity when they remained boyish. For many pubescent tomboys, changes in the body accompanied not only demands that they become feminine,
but also a realignment of emotional life. Tomboys had to learn to see boys not as trusty
comrades but as potential dates, and they had to look to girls, whom they had often
scorned, for close friendships. In fact, as children many tomboys had believed that their
similarity to boys extended right to their very bodies: they acknowledged that girl bodies
and boy bodies were anatomically different, but they detected enough similarities that
differences did not matter—a belief that this dissertation calls affinity. In fact, some
tomboys only learned to see their bodies as female for the first time at menarche. The
history of tomboyism thus coincides with the history of the body and sexuality. By 1940,
women who had grown up as tomboys knew that the bargain for the female body’s
heterosexual normality depended on relinquishing the pleasures of tomboyism, including
the sense that their bodies somehow resembled boys’. The historical tomboy body
discloses affective contradictions between the freedoms promised by feminists and
sexually adventurous youth alike.
heterosexuality and normative gender expression as they took shape between 1900 and
1940. Tomboys of the first decades of the twentieth century in the United States occupied
the frontlines of major transformations in the histories of feminism, youth culture,
sexuality, and the body. By 1920, New Women and political radicals had won significant
opportunities for boyish girls to continue to be somewhat masculine into adulthood, such
as through education, activism, athletics, and work. At the same time, an increasingly
autonomous urban working-class youth culture demanded a measure of gender
conformity for adolescent girls and boys who wished to be eligible for heterosexual
activity. Although historians often view feminism and the growth of youth culture as
liberatory, adolescent tomboys knew they were contradictory. Liberal adults, including
many feminists, advised them to “be themselves,” but tomboys’ peers ostracized them
from the world of dating and popularity when they remained boyish. For many pubescent tomboys, changes in the body accompanied not only demands that they become feminine,
but also a realignment of emotional life. Tomboys had to learn to see boys not as trusty
comrades but as potential dates, and they had to look to girls, whom they had often
scorned, for close friendships. In fact, as children many tomboys had believed that their
similarity to boys extended right to their very bodies: they acknowledged that girl bodies
and boy bodies were anatomically different, but they detected enough similarities that
differences did not matter—a belief that this dissertation calls affinity. In fact, some
tomboys only learned to see their bodies as female for the first time at menarche. The
history of tomboyism thus coincides with the history of the body and sexuality. By 1940,
women who had grown up as tomboys knew that the bargain for the female body’s
heterosexual normality depended on relinquishing the pleasures of tomboyism, including
the sense that their bodies somehow resembled boys’. The historical tomboy body
discloses affective contradictions between the freedoms promised by feminists and
sexually adventurous youth alike.
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Tomboys--United States--History--20th century
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Sex role in children--United States
Subject
(authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
United States--Civilization--20th century
Subject
(authority = lcsh/lcnaf)
Geographic
United States--Social life and customs--20th century
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Identifier
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http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000066916
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TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore19991600001
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(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3JH3JZJ
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
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The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Miller
GivenName
Allison
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
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(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2012-10-03 13:02:34
AssociatedEntity
Name
Allison Miller
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent
DateTime
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(point = start)
2012-10-31
DateTime
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(point = end)
2014-10-31
Type
Embargo
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after October 31st, 2014.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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1401344
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