I have decided that the whole gender problem is that we have no male equivalent of “tomboy.” Oh, sure, we have lots of words on the same semantic turf, but they’re all insulting, leastways all the ones I can think of.
So: can you think of a complimentary or neutral term for a young boy who doesn’t like traditionally masculine pursuits and prefers traditionally feminine ones?
Are there any in other languages?
“British”?
Hey, it worked for David Niven and Rex Harrison. 
Pick one (most seem negative to me)
Yep, nancyboy is a bit negative. I’ve always heard “sensitive” or “artistic”
If tom + boy = girl who likes to do boy things, then {short girl’s name} + girl = a boy who dislikes traditional boy things (more or less). So what we need is a short, relatively popular girl’s name to create this badly needed descriptive term. From my admittedly old list of Common English Given Names (circa 1963):
Amy (too like Nancy)
Ann ( “Oh, he’s such an anngirl”, no, it lacks something)
Beth (only if blonde)
Cathy (too long)
Gay (too obvious)
Heidi (only if he like lederhosen)
Jo and Joan have potential
Rose (too old fashion)
Zelda (okay, hardly common or relatively popular, but a cool name)
So it looks like my best effort is “jogirl”. Of course, traditionally, girls with the nickname “Jo” have been tomboys, so this could lead to some confusion.
Let’s just call them little dears. “Oh, he’s such a little dear.”
Works for me.
It’s generally related to fashion,
but metrosexual is a term thats in growing use.
as I understand it it’s usually a man who has a fashion sense, yet is clearly straight.
eh… I guess that didn’t really apply…
According to Eddie Izzard (noted Executive Transvestite), a transvestite is a male tomboy.
I think “tomboy” used to be considered fairly insulting. Even when I was a kid it wasn’t exactly positive. I have also heard, although I don’t know if it’s true, that “tom” used to be an insulting name for lesbians. So maybe there doesn’t need to be a new word for boys and men who prefer traditionally feminine pursuits to traditionally masculine ones; you could just time reclaim one of the old insults. It’s just a matter of choosing which one. If it were me, I’d go with “fruity” as the best (and most delicious and healthy!) of an admittedly bad bunch.
Isn’t “sissy” the most direct antonym for “tomboy”?
Yes, IMHO.
Actually, “antonym” is the wrong word. I meant the equivalent term for a male with fem. traits.
So I guess ‘wuss’ is out. Too negative. I’m leaning tword metrosexual, but it’s too long. How about just ‘metro’?
‘He’s OK, but kind of a wuss’
would become
'He’s OK, he’s kind of metro.
Much more positive.
It’s kind of funny because calling a girl “boyish” isn’t an insult and calling a boy “girlish” is so it’s not the words, it’s the attitude about boys and girls. Really, girly should be neutral unless it’s bad to be a girl.
It makes me feel kind of shitty that it is always an insult and degrading to say a male is girly or likes girly things.
Maybe since people kind of grasp the idea of metrosexual, it will trickle down and people will say a little boy who likes dolls is “metro.” But it’s sad that you can’t just say he’s girly without it being a big trauma to everyone.
“Metrosexual” deeply offends me.
Partly because it’s a trichakatsarono word – that is, a compound that has no meaningful connection to its root words, which is misleading unless the intended meaning is explained. I hate those.
Mostly, though, its because it sounds so stupid.
I’m a self-described nancy-boy, myself.
pokey beat me to it, and imho hit the nail on the head.
The reason the completely comparitive words nancy or sissy sound more negative is because it is considered so insulting to call a man a woman or compare him to one. I was thinking about these exact words the other day and wondering how come its “tomboy” but also “nancyboy”. Ain’t nobody a girl…
Actually I think the word was made this way on purpose, to provide a positive, advanced evolutionary characteristic. Metro = metorpolitan, advanced ‘race’ of smooth city dweller, as opposed to the crude redneck male. Sort of saying this is the way human evolution is heading and this is what males will become in mass in the future.
Adding it to sexual, along the lines of homo/hetro sexiual, indicates a 3rd catagory for this new evolutionary race, so different from the other 2 as to deserve it’s own term.
Tomboy WAS negative, along with sissy, but has evolved to be a positive in some lights, no male equivilant has made this transition AFAIK. I would say it is because girls acting like boys are more outgoing and appear stronger, these people seem to be able to take a negative term agaist them and make it a positive (much like the ‘yankee doodle’ was a negative term used against the early US, but they (the yankees turned it to a positive). OTHO sissy, or boys acting like girls are more likely to get hurt by it and noticably so, which in turn causes the people to keep using it, reinforcing the negative aspect.
How about “dandy” or “fop”? 
They’re both archaic enough so as to not be particularly insulting to modern men, IMHO.
I hate to sound like a sociologist but this is a sociological problem. One of the main theories of sociology is Symbolic interaction. It is not the symbol we use( aka word) but the feelings and thoughts associated with it. All words are going to insult someone so just i guess pick which set you want to piss off.
Yep, because men and women are not thought to be equal, in our society it is considered insulting to associate anything feminine with a male, yet it is not insulting to associate masculine traits to females - some people even brag about their daughters or wives excelling or participating in masculine activities.
Wives or daughters who take on masculine dress or masculine activities are admired. A husband or son who wants to be feminine is shame because (most people think) femininity is degrading.
Calling a girl boyish is not an insult if you think that males are superior, because a girl who imitates boys/male behavior is “stepping up” in status.
Calling a boy girlish is an insult if you think females are lower status humans than males. Therefore boys who want to express feminine traits are looked down on because they are “lowering” themselves by people who think women/females are inferioir.
If men and women were truely considered equal, parents would be equally proud of their daughters who were tomboys, and just as proud of their sons who dressed and acted feminine.
If you, or anyone else, doesnt think that boys who like to appear, dress, and act feminine are just as wonderful as tomboys, then you(consiously or unconsiously) really dont consider men and women to be equal.
You will NEVER!! be able to find a nice “term” to describe boys who want to be feminine which is not degrading, until you change society to consider men and women to be equal.
how about just ‘tomboy’?