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#TomboyCulture

By Stephanie Cook (MJour'18)

Search for Title IX and you鈥檒l find a landmark federal civil rights law passed in 1972. Search for the term 鈥渢itle nine,鈥� however, and the top result will likely be a national chain of women鈥檚 athletic clothing stores.

Legally, the implications of Title IX鈥攚hich established new requirements for gender inclusivity in federally funded educational programs鈥攚ere broad. Publicly, the law is known mainly for one thing: allowing women in sports.

As women growing up with Title IX took to fields, courts and arenas, the trend became woven into the fabric of society. Sporty girls became known as 鈥渢omboys,鈥� a term that fascinates Jamie Skerski, senior instructor in the Department of Communication.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 my generation, that鈥檚 Mia Hamm鈥檚 generation,鈥� Skerski says. 鈥淔or the first time, you have a generation of women who benefit from Title IX, and in the 1990s, imagery of sporty girls explodes in popular culture. Books and movies depicting athletic girls went mainstream.鈥�

Originally, 鈥渢omboy鈥� described a young boy who was out of control or didn鈥檛 conform to polite culture. Later, it shifted to describe unruly women. The modern incarnation is a young girl who is biologically female but prefers the activities we associate with boyhood, Skerski says.

鈥淭hey exhibit gender behaviors that we associate with masculinity,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat used to be seeking education or wanting to wear pants, and now, because of Title IX鈥攂ecause girls and women have had more opportunities in athletics and sports鈥攖omboy has come to mean athletic girl.鈥�

The word 鈥済irl鈥� is important, as society鈥檚 acceptance of tomboys almost always has an expiration date.

鈥淢ost narratives have tomboys trading in their soccer cleats for high heels in the end,鈥� Skerski says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a way to discipline that rebellion. You can do it, but popular culture says this isn鈥檛 a permanent status. You should grow out of it.鈥�

At TEDx欧美口爆视频 in 2018, Skerski presented the talk 鈥�,鈥� inspired in part by students in her senior seminar on gender and rhetoric, whom she鈥檇 asked to present gender collages.

鈥淚 had not even talked about tomboys at this point in the semester, but I heard, over and over again, 鈥楬ere was my tomboy stage.鈥� It was all about freedom鈥攆reedom of dress, freedom of being strong鈥攗ntil you hit that junior high-middle school adolescence,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen I heard it coming out of my students鈥� mouths, I was like, 鈥榃ow, it鈥檚 cultural, it鈥檚 personal, it鈥檚 on an identity level as well as a narrative level.鈥欌€�

As industries from entertainment to fashion embrace鈥攁nd profit from鈥攖omboys, Skerski warns that they often rob tomboys of an essential function: gender rebellion.

鈥淵ou get sexy tomboy or pretty tomboy,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 becoming more of a normative, dominant kind of identity rather than that rebellious woman or girl.鈥�

#TechieToddlers

Many toddlers can unlock a phone screen before they can walk or talk in full sentences. Some preschoolers open cartoons on YouTube or take selfies before they can hop on one foot or pedal a bicycle.

Digital native kids approach media differently from their digital immigrant parents, says Art Bamford, a PhD student in the Department of Media Studies who co-wrote the book Every Parent鈥檚 Guide to Navigating Our Digital World, published in 2018.

鈥淚f you have those early formative experiences in one sort of media environment, then you carry a lot of that baggage,鈥� he says.

For Generation Alpha and Generation Z kids, new technologies present possibilities and challenges their parents couldn鈥檛 have anticipated.

鈥淥ne thing I鈥檝e thought a lot about since writing the book is data collection,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he sooner kids are on social media, the sooner that鈥檚 being collected.鈥�

Advertisers, who gear messaging specifically toward adolescents, pose another issue.

鈥淎dolescence is this identity-forming period, where you鈥檙e figuring out who you are separate from your family,鈥� Bamford says. 鈥淲hen I was that age, I鈥檇 be really into hip-hop for a while, then I鈥檇 be really into indie rock. You鈥檙e trying stuff out and things are changing. But if every time you go onto Facebook or Google or Instagram, the ads that you see鈥攂ecause they鈥檙e based on your search history鈥攁re about hip-hop, then you鈥檇 think, 鈥業 guess I鈥檓 really into hip-hop.鈥欌€�

Because many parents rely on a model set by their own parents, dramatic shifts in technology can leave them feeling lost, but it鈥檚 normal to feel that way, Bamford says.

鈥淚鈥檇 just remind parents that it is new鈥攖here鈥檚 a lot of new questions and challenges, and they shouldn鈥檛 think they鈥檝e got to figure it out right out of the gate,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd when they do trial and error and start to figure some stuff out, share that with parents who have younger kids.鈥�

#MiningForKnowledge

What can kids learn from building up and breaking down blocks?

It鈥檚 a question that speaks to the past and future of education.

In 1798, Maria and R.L. Edgeworth made one of the earliest known references to toy blocks in their book Practical Education, calling blocks 鈥渞ational toys鈥� that could be used to teach kids about gravity and physics.

In 2019, Jorge Perez-Gallego鈥攕cholar-in-residence at CMCI鈥檚 Nature, Environment, Science and Technology Studio for the Arts鈥攊s co-principal investigator of a project that uses the block-based video game Minecraft to teach children about the same things.

鈥淧hysics works in the world of Minecraft, and you can actually dictate what works and what doesn鈥檛,鈥� Perez-Gallego says. 鈥淲e created worlds in which we have two moons, or no moon at all, or we鈥檙e really close to the sun. So while kids navigate those worlds, they realize that certain things are off. They can notice that, and they start asking 鈥榳hy鈥� questions.鈥�

For the project, funded by the National Science Foundation, Perez-Gallego creates digital worlds that present 鈥渨hat if鈥� scenarios. In research terms, he is providing kids with an informal learning environment: an educational setting where there is no defined task or goal, other than to be curious and explore.

鈥淲hen you become a scientist, no one鈥檚 telling you what to do. You鈥檙e out navigating the world and trying to make sense of it. You might come up with a research question, but that comes from you and from observing your surroundings, not from someone telling you what the question is,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n a way, we鈥檙e just taking their hands and walking them through a space that they can explore freely. At the end of the day, that鈥檚 what science is.鈥�

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