As a kid if you were like me you loved getting dirty, playing sports, and not behaving like a "little lady" because you thought: where is the fun in that? You didn't feel like you, when you stood up straight in a bright pink dress your mom picked out. You were, as they say, a Tomboy. It's something you called yourself and its something other people called you. Some people didn't like that you behaved like one, but you didn't care and you embraced it because it was who you were and you were the most comfortable.
Being a Tomboy was fun because you were the first girl that was picked for teams in PE and some of the boys liked how awesome you were swinging a bat or playing good defense in floor hockey compared to other girls. You loved your favorite shirt to play in, being considered "one of the guys" and looking back at old pictures, you looked really good in that baseball cap. Even though you were made fun of for being a Tomboy, you still embraced it because being rough and playing well with the boys (and them not caring you were a girl) was something that the bullies couldn’t do as well.
As you got older, you were still a Tomboy. You still loved playing sports, getting dirty to you didn’t matter, and still, you looked good in your baseball cap. But some things changed. You started wearing makeup, having cuter shirts instead of wearing old T's or jerseys, and you had one dress that was your go to when you were feeling lazy. Does this mean you are no longer a Tomboy? No. Just because you wear makeup and dresses doesn’t mean you are officially a girly girl. It just means that you evolved and that you are growing up. You are still a Tomboy, but you look different because you are getting older and you have refined your Tomboy-ness to suit you as you become more comfortable in your own skin.
The teenage years are typically reserved for people to evolve and to escape the Tomboy phase and become more elegant and ladylike. More importantly, just because you became more ladylike and were a Tomboy doesn’t mean you couldn’t still be treated like one. Sure, you looked different on the outside, but you are still the same baseball cap-wearing girl on the inside even if you have on eyeliner or blush or whatever. Being a Tomboy is fun, and it shouldn’t be repressed or forgotten because you now enjoy expressing yourself differently and you became more comfortable in your own skin. I am still a Tomboy, even though I wear mascara. I can be ladylike, but I like playing tough on the basketball court. You can take the girl out of the Tomboy aesthetic, but you can’t take the Tomboy out of the girl.
