Girls

[Yellow Fang]

I was listening to a radio programme about tom boys, which got me thinking. There are tom boys and princesses. Are there any other types of girl? What do you call those very studious girls for instance, like Daria, who grow up to be scientists.

 

[colly]

What's the male equivalent of a Tom Boy ?


No ! Not Lady Boy.

 

[Ganymede]

Studious girls used to be bluestockings, now they're geeks.

 

[buggi]

plain Jane

 

[welsh dragon]

Intelligent. Unlike some.....

 

[Pale Rider]

Intelligent. Unlike some.....

...threads on CycleChat.

 

[welsh dragon]

...threads on CycleChat.

Excellent.

 

[Spinney]

Why do you need labels?

 

[Yellow Fang]

Why do you need words?

 

[Hill Wimp]

Can't she just be called a scientist?

 

[TheDoctor]

Words are fine. It's labels that are the problem.

 

[Spinney]

At the risk of taking a p**s take seriously
words communicate
labels can stereotype - you say someone's a tomboy, and there are probably all sorts of things you then assume about them, when the label may only have been meant to say that (for example) they like being outdoors.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Well I am not saying the the definitions are precise and rigidly defined.

 

[Spinney]

Well, when I was young (back when the Earth was green....) I was both a tomboy and a geek.
Never a princess!

 

[Yellow Fang]

Studious girls used to be bluestockings, now they're geeks.

Bluestocking is an interesting one. It is an old fashioned term, and I think it only applied to middle class or upper middle class women, and not really young girls. Geek is non-gender specific. It used to be only applied to males, and used to be perjorative, like nerd or swot. Female geeks probably don't mind being called geeks, but would probably object to being called geekettes.