Boys will be boys

Boys will be boys, 18 April 2017 performance duration 3:00:00 Guerrilla outdoor performance festival, Portland OR. Photographed by: Jaleesa Johnston A large part of rape culture is the refusal and cultural inability to accept that the action of rape is at the hands of a rapist. The phrase "Boys will be boys" has been such a widely used phrase for such a long time; that over time, society and culture has essentially given men a pass and shifted the responsibility of their own action, from their own hands because of the idea that "that's what is expected of them." We have to replace "boys will be boys" with an acceptable and realistic idea: Boys will be what we expect them to be. Women grow up being taught tips, tricks and lessons on how to not be raped, but as a society we never teach potential rapists to not rape. The intention of our piece is to create a dialogue around how harmful it is to not give the responsibility of rape to the rapist. We want to focus on the harsh reality of the matter, as well as the repetitive commonality of the phrase in our modern society. To accomplish this, we will take up this dismissing phrase by painting it over and over again repetitively for an extended time, to force the viewer to feel uncomfortable and think of/realize the negative consequences of it.