Tomboys

Starting with the figure of the bold, boisterous girl in the mid-19th century and ending with the "girl power" movement of the 1990's,Tomboysis the first full-length critical study of this gender-bending code of female conduct. Michelle Abate uncovers the origins, charts the trajectory, and traces the literary and cultural transformations that the concept of "tomboy" has undergone in the United States. Abate focuses on literature includingLittle Womenand films such asPaper MoonandFried Green Tomatoes. She also draws on lesser-known texts like E.D.E.N. Southworth's once wildly popular 1859 novelThe Hidden Hand, Cold War lesbian pulp fiction, and New Queer Cinema from the 1990s.

Michelle Ann Abate is an Assistant Professor of English at Hollins University.