I love their sound so much, and many of their lyrics capture a teenage boy’s wrestling with desire and masculinity and sensitivity. Speaking of smashing expectations, Big Star is famous for being one of the most celebrated bands of all time that had almost no commercial success.

Long before the term gender dysphoria was coined, VU was writing about it, with lyrics like this: “Candy says I've come to hate my body, And all that it requires in this world.” Lou Reed and his compatriots spent a lot of time with people breaking all kinds of gender rules, from Andy Warhol to Candy Darling, a trans woman for whom this song was written. Turns out, these lyrics were the preview for the impossible expectations that would soon be bestowed upon most women. Lay down at five, jump up at six, and start all over again Get all dressed up, go out and swing 'til four A.M. I can rub and scrub til this old house is shinin' like a dimeįeed the baby, grease the car, and powder my face at the same time The lyrics, written in 1962, home in on the problem women faced, fighting for liberation from the domestic sphere while still being expected to master it. Many of us who came of age as women in the 1980s are more familiar with the adaptation of this tune, for a perfume commercial. I reminded myself over and over about all the incredible art and music that came from people who defied gender norms.

So these songs play with that idea, of how a girl or boy should be, and how they get celebrated or chastised when they don’t abide. What’s normal for boys and for girls has shifted many times in history, as has the idea that there should be separate ideas of what’s normal for each group. But that whole idea is dependent upon the notion that there’s a normal way for a boy or girl to behave or look. Tomboy is ostensibly about girls who dressed or acted or played like boys-the science, psychology, culture, history and future of their motivations and experiences.

In her own words, here is Lisa Selin Davis's Book Notes music playlist for her book Tomboy: Davis's persuasive and deeply personal argument for moving beyond the gender binary will resonate with those curious about child rearing free of normative expectations.' Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

Tomboy lisa selin davis