boyness

From boy +‎ -ness.

boyness (uncountable)

1. The state or condition of being a boy; masculinity, boyhood.
   • 1988, Donal A Carbaugh, Talking American: Cultural Discourses on Donahue, p. 9:

     What is it to be a boy in the scouts? What resources of communication give expression to boyness?

   • 2014, Clare Brennan, The Observer, 27 July:

     Evelyn Hoskins distils boyness from wide-eyed wonder and swaggering assurance.

   • 2018, Emily Willingham, "The non-binary brain", Aeon, 2 January:

     I wished for boyness because the boys did so many things I wanted to do and was excluded from doing because I was a girl.

• Boysens