15 & Still a Tomboy

Dear Dee:
I'm 15, but I still haven't completely grown out of the 'tomboy stage.' I wear girlier clothes, and I do date guys, but sometimes I don't act like a girl at all.

I would rather play softball than go shopping, and would rather watch ‘Fear Factor' than ‘Grey's Anatomy' and drama stuff like that. A lot of people think this is really weird, and some of them make fun of me for it.

A few people are even trying to force me to wear girlie clothes, or to go shopping with them. They are also trying to convince my boyfriend to dump me because I'm too "boyish." I don't want to change, so how can I get them to leave me alone?

You most definitely should not change! You are who you are and apparently your boyfriend likes you the way you are.

Don't let these girls force you to be something you're not. And if, as your friends, they can't accept you, then they need to take a hard look at themselves and figure out what friendship really means because their behavior isn't even close to being in the spirit of true friendship.

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with what you enjoy doing. Maybe one day you'll want to dress more ‘girlie' and maybe you'll get into a chick flick or a drama or something ... but you don't HAVE to do any of that to be a girl, and you don't have to do any of that to have a boyfriend. That's just stupid.

Your differences from your friends make you who you are. They make you an individual and they give you an edge. So don't apologize for it and understand sometimes our friends want us to conform to what THEY believe to be 'normal' because they want everyone to kinda be on the same playing field. But that's not what being an individual is all about. And you should be proud of yourself for it.