Is Akane a tomboy?

[Crescent Pulsar S]

A recent Fic Search topic randomly made me think about it seriously (I mean, I've had more than a decade to do so...), and after some considerable consideration I can't say that she is. What do you think?

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

TVtropes says Akane is a Type B Tsundere. I can go along with that. Some of my dearest friends from high school were of the tomboy persuasion, and I can see a bit of Akane in them.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

I never saw a similarity between tsundere and tomboyishness. I would think that the behavior of a tsundere would be more associated with the kind of stereotypical behavior attributed to females.

[PCHeintz72]

It also depends on exact definition or more accurately expectation of what is to be considered a tomboy.

As a coincidence, I'm watching the 1st couple episodes of Beverly Hillbillies... Mary Jane Clampett sure comes across tomboyish... wears mens cloths, beats up people snooping around (thought he might be a 'revenuer'), even asks dad if she can keep him, since he would be little trouble if she kept him out in the smokehouse like a dog or cat.

granny wanted her to help her do 'womans work' which included putting out the fires on the stills.

It occurs to me Ellie may also kept piglets...

[Crescent Pulsar S]

As far as Akane's appearance is concerned, she prefers to wear outfits that can't be confused for something a boy might wear, and she's also shown to be concerned about -- and having no qualms with -- wearing cute clothes (for a girl). When she wears a gi, it's for practical/traditional reasons, not a choice of fashion. When she's not, what she wears tends to be less gender-neutral than what Nabiki wears.

I could just say that Akane's concern over her appearance and not wanting to be seen as a tomboy is evidence enough that she isn't one, but I'll go into her behavior as well. To begin with, she has a keen interest in proving her femininity, and often tries to do things that are regarded as being feminine. And what kind of tomboy would grow out her hair and check unladylike behavior to get the attention of the person they like? At any other time, when circumstances don't require her strength or arouse her anger, she acts like a typical/normal girl.

The problem, as I'm now seeing it, is that people have accepted an insult as being the truth. And that -- somehow -- being strong and violent makes someone a tomboy, when that's more like sexism toward males than anything else. That, and being a martial artist is part and parcel -- or enough on its own -- to being a tomboy. If that's how one thinks, then they must also consider Kodachi, Azusa and Mariko as being tomboys (among a myriad of other strong and violent girls in anime and manga), though I highly doubt anyone would -- hence the problem with that kind of logic.

I just can't see her as a tomboy, now that I've given it some thought. Anything that could be considered even remotely tomboyish doesn't even begin to define her as a person, and the last thing that I'd want is for the tastes, desires and expectations of men to convince any girl that she should value weakness, dependence and timidity over the opposite of those traits (even though that's reading into the overall subject too far, but is relevant enough in regard to the term being used derogatorily rather than neutrally or positively).

[Spica75]

Nope, not a "tomboy". Her having poor skill at cooking or whatever, that´s irrelevant, the question is how she behaves, and she generally behaves in a classically feminine way.


And really, if you think what skills you have or wether you´re athletic or not is the only thing that matters, try to apply that way of measuring on yourself or your friends/family.
Do i consider myself, my brothers or my father to be feminine because all of us have decent skill with cooking? No, because that would just be silly stupid.

[three headed dog]

Akane isn't that much of a tomboy. Others in the series like Ukyo are much more. Ranma calls her a tomboy as an insult mostly because of her aggressive nature (which is not a trait that females are supposed to have particularly in Japan) and I suppose she could be viewed as a tomboy in part because of how she fails at doing most things that are traditionally feminine.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

Interest should prevail over failure, because it doesn't make any sense for a girl to be a tomboy by default if she fails to live up to whatever's expected of a girl to do. A tomboy is (or should be) defined by what she does, tries to do, or wants to do, not by her failure in doing something else.

[PCHeintz72]

I have issue with that definition, as it implied a tomboy cannot be a tomboy unless she personally agrees she is a tomboy by her own personal standards...

A stereotype label is one created and assigned by society... it does not even technically have to be correct as long as society believes it is...

Mind you, I do not agree with that, but that is how it is....

So, we should be measuring how Nerima views Akane, and how we view Akane, not how Akane views Akane.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

The definition of tomboy seems to have shifted since the Fifties, when I was learning to recognize the breed.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

I have issue with that definition, as it implied a tomboy cannot be a tomboy unless she personally agrees she is a tomboy by her own personal standards...

A stereotype label is one created and assigned by society... it does not even technically have to be correct as long as society believes it is...

Mind you, I do not agree with that, but that is how it is....

So, we should be measuring how Nerima views Akane, and how we view Akane, not how Akane views Akane.

That wasn't the definition I gave it at all. I was arguing how others should determine how someone is a tomboy, because it should be based on what they are observing them do, not the outcome of it. It would be nonsensical if a girl did everything stereotypically expected of a girl yet was called a tomboy because she didn't do well enough in a given amount of them,

[PCHeintz72]

I understood your definition. We merely had different points.

I'm saying in real life, society stereotypes, rightly or wrongly. Consider it a instinctual response to want to pigeonhole or classify people along lines...

If does not have to fit, it does not have to be true, heck... the definition itself changes over time. what we class people as now is not the same as 25-50-100 years ago.


Take people with tattoos... the reasons a person may get a tattoo are at least as many as days in the year... but society classes people with them into specific categories and stereotypes and immediately thinks things like lowborn, thug, yakuza, mafia, crime, etc... does that make those stereotype classifications true... no. But people think it.

Likewise... in the case of Akane Tendo... there is a huge difference between, does she believe herself a tomboy, does Nerima think her one, and do we as readers/viewers class her as one.

A couple different dictionary definitions of Tomboy I dug up with a search:

1 tom·boy /ˈtämˌboi/ Noun
A girl who enjoys rough, noisy activities traditionally associated with boys.

2 tomboy (ˈtomboi) noun
a girl who likes rough games and activities. She's a real tomboy

3 tom•boy (ˈtɒmˌbɔɪ) n.
an energetic or awkward girl whose behavior and pursuits are considered typical of boys.

By definition 1 and 2, I think her one. By definition 3, Nabiki thinks her one.


Note, none of the above preclude her also being a Tsundere...

[Noy Telinú]

Akane is a tomboy in nature who doesn't want to be one. It's confusing.

Kasumi, Nabiki, Ranma, Kuno, heck, practically everyone sees her as a tomboy.

Does she see herself as one? Not likely. At least she doesn't want to be one.

It's not the anger that makes her one. It's her personality. She jumps head first into problems by hitting things and being active. Yes, she's a martial artist, but she has a hair trigger temper. It seems to me that she has a struggle in herself. She wants to be that feminine girl, but she can't help being an energetically impatient person who hits first and asks questions maybe.

Her mannerisms are boyish. Her dress isn't. But that's because, as I said, she's trying to be feminine. Her terrible skills at femininity doesn't make her a tomboy, but it does reveal that her attitude is more masculine than she would admit.

Whatever you want to call THAT, it's not a girly girl. Her only girly moments are when she's messing with p-chan and having an emotional time with Ranma.

When everyone who knows you calls you a tomboy, it's most likely true. Doesn't Kasumi and Kuno use kun with her?

And yes, Ukyo is the cute one because she's more relaxed and can play up the feminity if she wants too in a weird way. O_o

Of course, you all seem to disagree. -_-

[Blackcat101]

She is a tomboy that hates being a tomboy yet is ruled by her bad temper and is too clueless to improve.

[Noy Telinú]

... yeah, that actually sums it up nicely...