Liz Prince is a cartoonist. She’s a cat lover. She’s a fan of punk.
No, punk!
That’s more like it.
Liz Prince is also a Tomboy.
“A Tomboy is a girl who wishes she was a boy” explains one student to Liz. But that just creates confusion, because she doesn’t really see herself as a boy. She’s just not into the same things as the other girls.
And this aversion to most things “girly” was apparent at a young age, with her interest in role playing as a Jedi and a Ghostbuster putting her at odds with other children. This creates an identity crisis that persists through her teen years, as further labels like “boy” and “lesbian” are applied but don’t fit either.
The boys don’t accept her. And the girls? Liz really doesn’t want anything to do with them. Society has taught her that girls like dresses and princesses and all things pink, and since she finds those things lame, girls must be lame, too, right? Is there anywhere Liz can feel free from the pressure of “girl culture?”
This binary gender thing can be pretty dumb.
Prince’s illustrations are simple yet expressive – she does a great job capturing the emotion in her characters. If you’re a fan of Jeffrey Brown’s art you’ll dig Prince’s style. Her writing is funny, honest and very smart. I love how Liz shines light on the fact that even though she’s made to feel she hates women, what she actually dislikes is society’s expectations of women. Everyone should be evaluated on a case by case basis, and being another Tomboy doesn’t intrinsically make one better than being a girly girl and vice versa.
And I appreciate that she took the time to touch upon the fact that some boys experience a similar struggle when they don’t conform to traditional masculinity.
“Tomboy” is a coming of age story about living your life the way you want. Because as Liz says:
“I don’t want to be a girl on society’s terms, I want to be a girl on my own terms.”
-Emily Matview | https://www.goodreads.com/matview
‘Tomboy’ is available from Liz Prince’s webstore. You can also reserve it from the library.
“Punk rock book club” banner by Andy at Empire13.
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