Here comes the rant...

(Frame = polemic held lightly in Kosmic hands, with humility and respect for the unfolding)

If I ever witness someone saying "boys will be boys" as a rationalization for harmful behavior, I am going to skillfully rip the argument to shreds.  We have an epidemic in this country (and most of the world).  Our children are both perpetrator and victim in an ongoing cycle of harassment and abuse.  Even though most people recognize that it is a problem, many just shrug it off with the aforementioned "boys will be boys."  Well, that's a crock of steaming shit, and the social science evidence has been piling up over the last couple of decades.  Spirit in us is recognizing the epidemic. 

This subject is the focus of the not-yet-written writing sample that I am submitting as part of my grad school application.  I have barely begun the research, and the evidence is already overwhelming.  I am almost done with Hatred in the Hallways.  I've had the book for months, but I just couldn't pick it up again after reading the first 20 pages because it made me feel intense emotional pain.  Research shows that:

- many LGBTQ students who, in desperation, try to alert teachers or school administrators to constant harassment by peers face rampant denial, accusations or rationalizations, effectively invalidating their experience, adding to their emotional stress, and making them feel even more frustrated or, worse, hopeless.

- in many studies, upwards of 85% of girls and young women report feeling sexually harassed or abused by boys or young men, including verbal insults, sexual propositioning, groping or otherwise blatantly inappropriate behavior

- many boys and young men, gay ones included, actively participate in aggressive behavior towards women because they feel pressured by other boys and they don't want to stand out as "not man enough" or an actual belief that they are superior to girls

- most of the boys who have been the perpetrator in school shootings were, themselves, victims of relentless attempts at demasculinization and stigmatization by their peers

This theme is popping up again and again in my life.  We just finished a section on aggression in my Social Psychology II class.  Yesterday, I checked in with Jay at The Zero Boss and read a previous post on his experiences with bullying; many of the reader comments openly acknowledge the problem.  My fire was fueled by that post.

The evolution of my research interests has been deeply moving, spurring me on in my karmic quest.  I started out with a very narrow focus on discrimination against transsexuals in health care because it is an issue that directly affects me.  Then I started looking into the harassment that LGBTQ students face in our schools and communities.  Now it is clear that we literally have an epidemic.  "Boys will be boys" because we collectively model that behavior, whether by parental, familial or media influence.  "Boys will by boys" is a weak rationalization that is used to abdicate responsibility (another theme for the year: the many ways in which we abdicate responsibility).  IT MUST STOP.  I will do my tiny part towards making that happen.