Georgina "George" Kirrin is a fictional character from the Famous Five series of children's adventure novels by Enid Blyton. Kirrin is a tomboy, demanding that people call her George, and she cuts her hair very short and dresses like a boy. She is headstrong and courageous by nature and, like her father, scientist Quentin Kirrin, has a hot and fiery temper. Blyton eventually revealed that the character was based on herself.[1]
George has a loyal dog named Timothy (sometimes Timmy or Tim) who'd do anything for her. She often fires up when anyone calls her by her real name or makes fun of Timmy. And she loves it when somebody calls her George or mistakes her for a boy. In Five Get into a Fix, the old woman Mrs. Jones mistakes her for a boy: even though Julian had said to her that she was a girl, she later forgot this. She sometimes takes this to the point of asking that her name be prefixed with Master instead of Miss. Various references have been made to what meaning should be read in to this – for instance "I remember reading in my first Famous Five book about a girl called Master George. What a puzzle and thrill. My first literature lesbian and role model."[2] Yet others have interpreted that Kirrin had gender dysphoria and may have been a transgender child. It would seem likely to be seen this way by transmen who read the books as children. Several transmen have cited Kirrin as being their role model. Hugo Rifkind, writing in a Times supplement, mentioned both these possibilities but considered that Blyton's conservatism meant neither was likely to be intended, as well as citing the follow-up.[3]
In the 2008 series Famous 5: On the Case, an adult George is married to a car mechanic named Ravi Mischwa, and has a daughter named Jyoti, who prefers to be called Jo, a son named Michael and a son named Sam. George is a botanist and a collector of rare artifacts in the series. She is far less of a tomboy as an adult, possessing a more feminine hairstyle, albeit with a purple streak on one side.
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