Girl Mans Up

Girl Mans Up (2016), a young adult LGBT contemporary novel by M-E Girard, follows a protagonist grappling with gender identity issues, and what it means to be a boy, a girl, or genderqueer. The book won the 2017 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children’s/Young Adult Literature, and it was nominated for the 2017 William C. Morris YA Debut Award. Girard primarily writes queer fiction and female-centered books. In 2013 and 2015, she served as a fellow at the Lambda Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices. Girl Mans Up is her first young adult novel.

The protagonist, Penelope Oliveira, hates being called Penelope and so everyone calls her “Pen” for short. Sixteen-year-old Pen lives in Ontario, Canada, with her Portuguese parents and Johnny, her older brother. Her parents are traditional and conservative, and their Portuguese heritage is very important to them.

Pen attends St. Peter’s Catholic School. Her best friend is Colby, a straight teenage boy. Colby, a womanizer, loves using girls and discarding them. Pen doesn’t approve of his ways, but he is the only student at St. Peter’s who accepts her fluid gender identity and homosexuality.



Pen isn’t a “girly” girl. Wearing her hair short, she often dresses like a boy. People assume she is trying to be a boy, which isn’t the case. Pen wants people to accept her for who she is, irrespective of her gender. On the other hand, her parents wish she would dress like a girl because it embarrasses them when people don’t know if she’s male or female.

Colby protects Pen from the bullying antics of the other boys at school. However, his protection comes at a price: Pen must help him find girls to hook up with. She can’t tell them that Colby plans to hook up with them and dump them straight after. This makes life difficult for Pen because she knows this is no way to treat other girls.

Although Pen doesn’t fancy Colby, they experiment with each other sexually. She doesn’t enjoy it; she wonders if she could ever enjoy sexual experiences with boys. She questions what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman, sure that she doesn’t fit neatly into any box.



In the meantime, Pen strengthens her relationship with her brother, Johnny. Catching her stealing his hair clippers, Johnny asks her to talk to him about her gender identity. He tells her to stop worrying about what their parents think because she can’t change who she is. If she needs help with clothes or her hair, she should tell him rather than steal his stuff. Pen feels better knowing that she has another ally.

Pen develops a crush on a classmate, Blake. Popular, Blake dates a boy who plays in a rock band. Blake plans to break up with him, and Pen wonders if she should ask her out. Pen fears rejection, but she also worries about what her parents will think if they find out she is dating a girl. However, when Pen finds out that Blake is open to a relationship with her, she decides to “man up” and ask her out.

Pen’s relationship with Blake doesn’t suit Colby. He doesn’t want Pen spending so much time with someone else. She should be his wingman. Blake encourages Pen to stand up to Colby and tell him to stop treating girls like dirt. Pen, however, isn’t ready to risk her friendship with Colby, because he has been there for her when no one else was.



Things become more complicated when Colby dates and dumps Olivia. Devastated, Olivia wants to talk to Pen about him. She wants to know why he treats girls so badly, and she wants other girls to know what he is like so that they stay away from him. Pen is torn between her loyalty to Colby and standing up for what is right.

When Pen stops hanging out with Colby, he steps back and stops protecting her from teenage boy abuse. They tease her relentlessly, calling her horrible names. They poke fun at her sexuality, and they warn her to stop trying to be a boy when she clearly isn’t one. Pen, who is very comfortable in her own skin, doesn’t listen to the teasing. All the bullying does is reinforce Pen’s commitment to her identity.

Pen knows that she can never be friends with Colby again, but she doesn’t regret losing the relationship. Her parents see that she refuses to be who they want her to be. They aren’t happy, but they know there is no point in trying to change her mind. Johnny is proud of her and tells her to never change who she is because she is amazing.