Tomboy verse girly girl

Today I asked myself the following question: Am I a tomboy or a girly girl, or am I borderline both? In a confused moment, I turned to Imar and asked him what he seems to think, knowing that after dating for four years, he probably knows me the best. He however seems to think I edge more toward the girly girl aspect, which really made me a little disturbed.

Through out my life I have always tried to avoid that label, and it seems to me that in my older years, it is coming back to haunt me:) In my desperate attempt to define who I am, I turned to wikipedia to see how they define the certain roles...here is what I found:

A Tomboy is a girl, who behaves according to the gender role of a boy. They tend to wear male looking clothes, play boy games and sports, and befriends boys rather than girls. With this in mind, they speak of a girly girl being slang for a girl or woman who chooses to dress and behave in a traditionally feminine style, like wearing floral dresses, blouses and skirts. They say that these "girly girls" talk about relationships and other activities which are associated with the traditional gender role of the girl.

Hmmm, I 'm not sure. I think I am a bit of both. I tend to befriend guys more, and such things, but at the same time...who doesn't speak about relationships! Anyway...moving along...

If you knew me when I was in Grade 10, or around there, you would have seen me in one of my most creative fashion phases. My 'fashion' consisted of knee length baggy boys shorts, stripy colourful socks, hoodies, t-shirts and skater shoes. (Only the best) I never wore anything that wasn't a surf label, as well as HATED dresses and skirts. I didn't want anything to do with them. My hair was always tied back, and was never a different colour to my natural shade. While I was in this stage, I must admit I got no attention from the opposite sex, but at the same time, was I really looking. Imar says he noticed me in this phase, so maybe it did pay off after all:)

What changed that phase you might ask? Well, going to an all girls school like Rustenburg certainly had a role in the whole matter, as well as meeting the man of my dreams in matric. I suddenly discovered in matric that actually those baggy shorts were not all that flattering to my baby fat. I guess having Imar as a boyfriend and being in matric caused me to grow up, and therefore along with the personality growing up, the dress sense grew up too.

I suppose being in the teaching profession also changed my style of dress and the tomboy in me. I feel that the society and a change of friendships also influenced this. I like how I dress, and get a lot of inspiration off other people's dress sense. I guess deep down inside me there is still that little tom boy that loves sports, baggy clothes and not bothering about the hair.

So I am a 21 year old girl, who is very much a mixture of both. I'm a unique girly girl, who loves to dress up every now and again, watches the style network (I do confess) but never bothers about what her hair really looks like, and occasionally wears make up. I normally look very scruffy, much to my mothers annoyance, and is probably the messier one out of my brothers and parents. I do care about what I look like, but this to me means I need to look as original as possible for myself, to be comfortable and most importantly, maintaining the rocker in me.

So after all that rambling, my conclusion for myself is that I intend to stay the person that I am, and embrace the inspiration in my life. I want to be the relaxed, chilled, girly girl slash tomboy that I am...

One day I'll get over being called a girly girl, because I really don't see myself as the girly girl image that I have in my head...the image is that of Joburg poppies.

Peace out.