How did “boys will be boys” go from “coming home at age 7 covered in mud, with a skinned knee, and a frog in your pocket” to “sexual assault and felony gun possession?”
Even in the first one, ‘boys will be boys’ is often used to explain why you react differently to the same scenario depending on whether it’s a boy or girl. I remember being scolded for this stuff as an AFAB, while boys got away with it. Same story with getting into little physical fights, being rowdy, aggressive, destroying stuff. I guess that can be a slippery slope into the latter one, if you keep it up long enough. Just my attempt at an explanation.
While you’re not wrong about the double standard, the slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy for a reason. Consider pranks; just because you do something harmless, like the old cliche of a whoopie cushion, doesn’t mean it’s okay or inevitable to escalate until you’re harassing people on YouTube or endangering people because “it’s just a prank bro.”
Some of us heard our own parents use the phrase to dismiss innocent childhood shenanigans. If people have been using it to dismiss assault since the 80s (which is possible, I’m not doubting that), there were still plenty of people through the 90s and 00s that didn’t use it that way.
What I don’t understand is, if OP wasn’t exposed to that use of the term and/or didn’t realize it at the time (perhaps due to being a child), how does that make them a “shit human being”? Is everyone who doesn’t know everything a “shit human being”? Because if so, I’ve got some bad news.
How did “boys will be boys” go from “coming home at age 7 covered in mud, with a skinned knee, and a frog in your pocket” to “sexual assault and felony gun possession?”
Even in the first one, ‘boys will be boys’ is often used to explain why you react differently to the same scenario depending on whether it’s a boy or girl. I remember being scolded for this stuff as an AFAB, while boys got away with it. Same story with getting into little physical fights, being rowdy, aggressive, destroying stuff. I guess that can be a slippery slope into the latter one, if you keep it up long enough. Just my attempt at an explanation.
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While you’re not wrong about the double standard, the slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy for a reason. Consider pranks; just because you do something harmless, like the old cliche of a whoopie cushion, doesn’t mean it’s okay or inevitable to escalate until you’re harassing people on YouTube or endangering people because “it’s just a prank bro.”
That’s puberty for you! 🤷🏻♂️
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That’s a bit much. I think you’re scolding the wrong person.
Some of us heard our own parents use the phrase to dismiss innocent childhood shenanigans. If people have been using it to dismiss assault since the 80s (which is possible, I’m not doubting that), there were still plenty of people through the 90s and 00s that didn’t use it that way.
What I don’t understand is, if OP wasn’t exposed to that use of the term and/or didn’t realize it at the time (perhaps due to being a child), how does that make them a “shit human being”? Is everyone who doesn’t know everything a “shit human being”? Because if so, I’ve got some bad news.