By: Siena

In reply to Paige.

I agree that it’s probably harder to grow up as a girly boy than a boyish girl, and that was actually one of my first thoughts – when will there be a movement like this for boys? But I hate this trend of pooh-poohing a good thing just because it doesn’t solve everything, or because it doesn’t address the worst problems out there. Gap is a huge corporation that like almost all large corporations is ethically dubious. Yes, celebrating tomboys is not a new thing, and boys have it really hard, gender-enforcement-wise. I think it’s great that people want to point those things out.

But do you have to spit on other people’s struggles and (small) victories to point that out? A lesbian is a fashion icon and has a tomboyish kids line at a mainstream clothing store. That would have been unthinkable fifteen years ago when I was in high school. It’s a good thing. There could be a better thing, but can’t we be happy about something that’s good even if it doesn’t solve all the world’s problems? Lots of people are commenting that this would have made a difference to them at kids. Don’t tell them that doesn’t matter.