Rainbiw Dash-should she be a boy right from the start?

[MechanicalDoom 300]

Nope. That makes no sense at all. There's nothing wrong with a girl not being girly. I for one prefer tomboys over girly girls.

[Princess Lona 382]

PS - Does anyone else think the very word "tomboy" is outdated and (hoo boy, controversial word in-coming) sexist? It pretty much implies that the sort of behaviour the label refers to is inherently male. That's like saying, "Oh, you behave like this, so you're pretty much a boy inside even though you're physically a girl."

So. Much. This.

 

I hate the word "tomboy", it doesn't make any sense. Using "tomboy" to describe a person like Rainbow Dash implies that behaviour can be objectively defined as masculine or feminine when in fact, the gender of a behaviour is completely subjective to the gender of the person performing that behaviour at any given moment. If Rainbow Dash is a girl, then any and all of her actions are feminine while she is carrying them out. If Soarin or another stallion were to carry out the same action, it would be masculine while he was carrying it out. The gender of behaviour is in constant flux.

To put it another way, masculinity and femininity don't actually exist so the word "tomboy" is irrelevant.

[Silver Letter 1,832]

Obviously not. As much as I am not really fond of Rainbow as a character, she easily fits as a mare. Sure, she never expresses any "feminine" side but that's not the point of the character. Her personality is its own blend of "feminine" that works well with the rest of the main cast.