An introduction.

I've never considered myself a tomboy. Maybe because I always associated that term with girls who played sports with the boys on the playground, or were athletic, or were in some way physically active. I was just about the antithesis of that brand of tomboy. In elementary school, I was the bookish child in the back corner, obsessively tearing my way through the Animorphs series and writing stories that were a blatant ripoff of "Jumanji." In fact, my notion of a "tomboy" was probably gleaned from the same place I learned the word: Sweet Valley Twins, in reference to the "tomboy" twin whose name escapes me.

Somehow, though, I never picked up the actions that typically connote "woman" in modern society. I don't wear makeup; I don't have pierced ears; I don't exfoliate nearly as much as I should (or in some places, at all). Dresses are hard to come by in my wardrobe, I don't brush or blow dry my hair, and though I do love shoes and spend a reasonable amount of money purchasing them, they're usually sneakers, or modest flats at best.

Thanks to many of my habits, I've since been described as a "tomboy" or, now that I'm older, "butch," "lesbian," or "dykey." Not only do I find these terms insulting to lesbians, I find it insulting that people should find my dress habits indicative of my sexual preference. Okay, maybe stereotypes are FORMED on true generalizations -- maybe, for example, gay men DO tend to be more fashionable, and have more expressive voices, than straight men -- but this often leads to fallacious, not to mention annoying, assumptions and stigmas placed upon people who don't deserve them. Not to say that being declared a "lesbian" is a stigma in anyway -- it just makes it awful difficult to attract men.

Frustrated with being misidentified, I've decided to learn the ways of women through successfully "performing" my gender role for the summer. Ever other day, I will identify a characteristic that is stereotypically attributed to women, and begin to perform that gender role. If it is not something that affects my personality, I will continue performing it for the rest of the summer. I say "something that affects my personality" because there are some characteristics that I will perform for a week -- something like, "feign weakness to make a guy feel less threatened" or something else like that. I will distinguish between exterior changes and interior (personality) changes. I will also comment on the affects of previous entries in succeeding entries, as this is a cumulative project.

And with this blessing, let the project begin!

(And as a shameless plug, here is the link for a webcomic I write, entirely unrelated to this project: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/petmilk/twelvesteps)