The Shifting Sands of Identity: A Comparative Exploration of Gender Performativity and Liminality in Bacha Posh and Tomboy Narratives

This article aims to understand and compare how gender fluidity and liminality function within the narratives of Bacha Posh in Afghanistan and the Western narratives that portray tomboy characters. This is accomplished by utilizing the theory of gender performativity by Judith Butler and the idea of liminality given by Victor Turner. Patriarchal system demonstrates its extreme misogyny through Bacha Posh because this cultural practice only allows girls to gain agency through adopting male roles. In contrast, the tomboy characters in Western literature usually express individual opposition to gender resistance that lets them experiment with male-coded activities for personal freedom. The two accounts demonstrate how femininity experiences devaluation while liminal states simultaneously let women display resistance briefly yet force them back into gender norms. This article critiques gender systems while promoting the creation of a new gender paradigm which embraces gender identity fluidity instead of viewing it as a momentary deviation from the entrenched frameworks.