Tomboys and Other Gender Heroes

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PREFACE

Setting: A cold March morning in 2011. My first day of research. A classroom packed with grade 8 students. An Ontario city of about 75,000 people, tucked between broad expanses of farmland.

A 10 minute free-write. The writing prompt: Choose an object or activity that you think best expresses your gender.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For …

my mother, who told me I was pretty as a tomboy, even though I didn’t believe her. Hilary, for loving feminine guys, butch women, and me in particular.

Lisa Walter, who has guided me through the personal challenges of gender and research.

Heather Algie, Star Davey, and Eleanor Anckaert, for teaching these gender workshops with me, and for offering important insights about the research on the long drives and at the cafés along the road. Alexander Nagthall and Katie Corbett, who chose to do their alternative placements on this research, examining data and writing, and providing me valuable feedback. Hilary Cook and Cynthia Budgell, for reading through my drafts, recognizing both the beauty and the problems, and pushing me forward.

Jackie Muldoon, for supporting my personal and professional growth as a colleague and scholar, and leading a School of Education where my work is valued. Julia Curry-Rodríguez and Kathryn Blackmer Reyes, for their continued encouragement of my creative and scholarly works. Cathy Bruce, for her excitement and resources while I was writing the SSHRC grant. Jaime Garcia, for the cognac and many talks at NACCS about methodologies, education, and designing this research. André Grace, for his strong support of my work through his comments, especially at our annual gatherings at CSSE. Barb Taylor, for her friendship and for producing the film Tomboy, from which this research was built. Loralee Gillis, for personally and professionally supporting my work and connecting me with a community at Rainbow Health Ontario. Marg Hobbs, for her generosity, encouragement, and for offering me a wonderful platform to present and receive ← xi | xii → feedback about my research (an annual lecture in “Introduction to Gender and Women’s Studies”). Deborah and Michael Berrill, for their encouragement and advice throughout the research and writing process. Paul Elliott, Blair Niblett, Claire Mooney, Denise Handlarski, Miriam Davidson, Susan Dion, Carla Rice, Joanna Perkins, Celia Haig-Brown, Didi Khayatt, Sandra Schecter, Esther Fine, Veronica Hollinger, Karen Shenfeld, Julie Wong-Barker, Paola Bohorquez, and Joelle Reid for their collegial support, friendship and insightful conversations. Tammy Wheeler, Jess Fudge, Trudy Elmhirst, Mandi Kofira for looking through some of the data with me and sharing their personal interest and knowledge. Peggy Warren for helping me navigate database searches. Tim Foster and Garry Pejski, for technological assistance throughout. Katerina Cook for vital assistance with the proofs. Tracy Holton and Liz Vlietstra, for numerous late afternoon conversations about gender and children.

Trent University, for giving me the position and the home base from which to lead my life as a professor, writer and researcher. Elizabeth Meyer, for her faith in the project, her patience over several years of writing, and her reading and editing through many drafts. The Peter Lang team for their patience and guidance, especially Bernadette Shade, Sophie Appel, Stephen Mazur, Chris Myers, and Phyllis Korper. My family: Carter, Katie, Elena, Garry, Tammy, Matt, Shane, Melissa, David, Rhoda, Brian, Arlene, Dad, Chris, Heather for their love. Finally, for the many teachers who courageously and generously allowed me to work with their students.

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Chapter 2, “Off the Script: A Study of Techniques for Uncovering Gender-Bending Truths in the Classroom” was previously published …

Pendleton Jiménez, K. (2014). Off the script: A study of techniques for uncovering gender-bending truths in the classroom. In D. Carlson, & E. J. Meyer (Eds.). Handbook of Gender and Sexuality in Education, (pp. 257–271). NY: Peter Lang.

Chapter 3, “The Making of a Queer Latina Cartoon: Pedagogies of Border, Body, and Home” is reprinted by permission of The Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies, 2014, 6 (2), 125–134.

Chapter 4, “I Love Barbies … I Am a Boy”: Gender Happiness for Social Justice Education” is reprinted by permission of Sex Education. Doi: 10.1080/14681811.2015.1067195. September 2015.

Chapter 7, … was previously published by

Pendleton Jiménez, K. (2014). “I will whip my hair” and “hold my bow”: Gender-creativity in rural Ontario. In E. Meyer & A Pullen Sansfacon (Eds.) Supporting transgender and gender creative youth: Schools, families and communities in action, (pp. 85–96). New York: Peter Lang.