Abstract
Tomboys are girls who behave like boys and, as such, challenge some theories of sex-typing. We recruited tomboys (N = 60) ages 4-9 through the media and compared them with their sisters (N = 15) and brothers (N = 20) on measures of playmate preference, sex-typed activities and interests, and gender identity. On nearly all measures, tomboys were substantially and significantly more masculine than their sisters, but they were generally less masculine than their brothers. We outline some scientific benefits of studying tomboys and describe some goals and initial findings of the Tomboy Project.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 333-341 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Archives of Sexual Behavior |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2002 |
Funding
Some of the work reported in this paper was completed by Kathleen Bechtold in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master’s degree in Psychology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. The study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant HD19644. We thank the following people who contributed to the research: Kristina Korman coordinated the project and assisted in data processing; Corey Hillman, Sarah Mikach, and Peter Schreck tested subjects; Ellen Lin and Wendy Pillsbury scored videotapes; David DiLalla and Brenda Gilbert provided feedback as thesis committee members. Joan Linsenmeier provided feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. We are especially grateful to the children and their parents for their enthusiastic participation in the study.
Keywords
- Gender development
- Gender nonconformity
- Gender roles
- Sex-atypicality
- Tomboys
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- General Psychology