I'm against the stereotype that all tomboys are tanned
Now that you brought it to my attention, it seems that, to represent the idea that a girl is a tomboy, she is often tanned due to outdoors activities. Yet, the boys are hardly ever tanned due to similar circunstances, unless they are fishermen.
Now that you brought it to my attention, it seems that, to represent the idea that a girl is a tomboy, she is often tanned due to outdoors activities. Yet, the boys are hardly ever tanned due to similar circunstances, unless they are fishermen.
Boys are expected to regularly partake in physical activities, so tans don't really serve to establish that a boy is more physically active than other boys. People would be more likely to conclude that a tanned guy is from the tropics, is a farmer or fisherman, or deliberately got that tan. Girls don't tend to have such expectations on them, so for female characters a tan more effectively communicates "this character is sporty" than it would for a male character.
I get that being tanned do visually emphasize that they're more on to outdoor stuff or being active, but there's more than that to tell someone that this character is that, since tomboy is basically just a personality that is not specific on certain thing
