American Tomboys, 1850-1915

A lot of women remember having had tomboy girlhoods. Some recall it as a time of gender-bending freedom. Others feel the word is used to limit girls by suggesting such behaviour is atypical. Renée M. Sentilles explores how the concept of the tomboy developed in the turbulent years after the Civil War, and argues that the tomboy grew into an accepted and even vital transitional figure.