Transgender Book Reviews

Jo's Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit, and Real Life
Edited by Christian McEwen
Copyright 1997, 321 pages, $19
Beacon Press
ISBN 0-8070-6211-1

Capsule: An anthology of short stories about girls and women growing up (or trying to grow up) unfettered by gender restraints: a celebration of tomboyism. Begins with little girl tomboys and ends with grown-up tomboys.

Full review

I found this review copy in a bookstore with a worn cover, attesting to its popularity with book browsers. This confirms what its editor said: "Almost every woman I approached [for the book project] had a tomboy story she wanted to tell."

The cover has a photo of four young girls on horseback. In fact, the spirit of horses pervades this book -- the thrill of riding an intelligent beast, of climbing aboard power. Another reoccurring theme is tree climbing, which might imply freedom.

Most of the stories appear to be autobiographical, but it's hard to know where fact drops off and fiction begins.

Being a tomboy seems to mean liking to play with boys, or at least in boys' traditional pursuits; wanting to dress like a boy or at least androgynously; thumbing one's nose at being proper and nice; and having conflicts with parents who don't want Huck Finn daughters.

In many of the stories there's a wistfulness about having had, and lost, the freedom of being a tomboy. A few tell about never having lost the tomboy spirit, having persevered in traditionally male occupations.

By the way, the title Jo's Girls refers to Louisa May Alcott's character Jo in Little Women, one of the first strong tomboy portrayals in English literature, and one which many women have identified with. Jo "likes 'boy's games and work and manners,' hates that she has to grow up ... and declares fiercely that she 'can't get over [her] disappointment in not being a boy.'"

The 41 stories span several centuries, many writing styles and many sensibilities. In one, a tomboy sprays her proper neighbor woman with a hose not one time, but three times, and doesn't regret it even when forced to apologize. Another writes: "I am the one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate."

A girl emulates a friendly young man even to practicing shaving, only to find out that boys have that "thing" between their legs, and has her dream shattered.

Simone de Beauvoir, Toni Morrison and Willa Cather are included -- as well as many not so well known. The lesbian and black experiences are well represented.

A story by Bia Lowe celebrates her early fascination with drums and her continuing with them in adult life. Nadezhda Durova (1783-1866) writes about being accepted into the Russian military as a man. Gail Griffin's nostalgic visit to the girls' camp of her youth elicits: "It was a place where, in the very years when girls weaken toward womanhood, I became strong ...."

This book begs the question -- what is the male version of a tomboy? A sissy or a moma's boy? Being a tomboy would seem to be more palatable to the American consciousness than the male equivalent.

(Reviewer: Valory Gravois) (Copyright ©1999 by Alchemist/Light Publishing)

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