In her studies, Traci Craig said she has identified three main ways in which the tomboy identity provides temporary protection to women.
“The tomboy identity is not the sort of identity we have at our core,” said Craig, associate dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. “It is much more of a nuanced identity that provides particular privileges and opportunities that are unique to itself.”
Austin Maas | Argonaut
Bekah MillerMacPhee, Women”s Center assistant director for Programs, and UI student Kennedy Caisley make buttons to be distributed at the Women and Gender Brown Bag Series Tuesday.
Craig will discuss the tomboy as a complex identity in contemporary U.S. culture in “Tomboy: Protections, Limitations, and Implications for Girls and Women” at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Crest Room of the Idaho Commons. The presentation will be the first event of the semester in the Women and Gender Brown Bag Series, hosted by the University of Idaho Women”s Center in conjunction with the Women”s and Gender Studies program.
Maggie Rehm, faculty in the Women and Gender Studies Program, said her favorite part about the series is getting to hear such a diverse selection of stories and research work people are doing at UI and in the community. She and Assistant Director for Programs at the Women”s Center Bekah MillerMacPhee coordinate the events each month.
“(The Brown Bag Series) really is an opportunity to learn about gender in our society in all sorts of interesting ways,” Rehm said. “But it”s also a chance for students to find out what kinds of work their professors do.”
MillerMacPhee said when selecting speakers, they look for anyone doing work relating to women”s and gender studies. She said she is particularly excited to have Craig as this month”s presenter.
“I think that (Craig) is really good at talking about her research and then getting others to relate to it in their own lives,” MillerMacPhee said. “I have no doubt she will accomplish that in this specific program.”
Craig said that this type of event might shed some light onto a topic that many might not think was important to women”s studies. For example, she said though the tomboy identity comes along with a gender fluid understanding, it still comes with certain costs, benefits and protections.
“The events that the Women”s Center hosts provide really critical content on the basis of women and gender,” Craig said. “Women”s experiences are often not validated or seen as clearly as they are when we have programming that highlights these experiences that are important to our lives.”
Hailey Stewart can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @hailey_ann97