For my magazine, I have decided to entitle it Boys Will Be Boys. Due to the content matter and what I am presenting to my audience through my photographs, I feel it is quite a suitable title and a title that you won’t often see because of its already heavy usage. The title I have chosen is actually a phrase used quite often, especially in the 80s and 90s.

the official definition of the phrase is:
>> used to express the view that mischievous or childish behaviour is typical of boys or young men and should not cause surprise when it occurs.

The phrase basically excuses boys to do what they want because when using the phrase after a male may have done something mischievous or unruly, whoever is sating is it is excusing him of behaving in a negative way because it should be expected because of the fact that boys are boys and the are meant to be naughty and misbehave – it’s in their boisterous nature.

However, although I am not directly showing this in my magazine through my images or through the questions I have asked my models, I still feel it is suitable for the content. In a coupe of my shoots however, there are acts that could present this phrase well and accurately. For example, in my shoot with Max, we were at Les Quennevais Precinct which is like an area designated for restricted use by shops and pharmacies and supermarkets. Therefore, there are a few trolleys in the car park of the precinct and we put it upon ourselves to use a trolley found in a couple of the shots. From the shoot, I have retrieved around 50 images of Max in this trolley performing different acts for the camera. I have used a couple of these in my magazine and these particular shots link well with the phrase ‘boys will be boys’.

Furthermore, in my shoot with Charlie and Alex, for the most part of the shoot we based in St Andrew’s Park, both of them were smoking a cigarette, and to be precise – a Cuban cigarette. At the beginning of the shoot, Alex lit this Cuban cigar that he pulled out of his car and used it as a prop for the rest of the shoot and this actually gave the shots a really good touch because it something that I had not captured yet and is quite typical of teenagers these days – to smoke. Even though it is quite surprising that most kids these days smoke, I would class this situation a situation where you could say boys will be boys. Smoking is a social thing and an activity boys can use to impress or seem masculine and so when I have captured Alex and Charlie smoking their Cuban cigar which would be surprising because it is not even a normal cigarette, you could say boys will be boys because it is typical of males to try out new things.

However, to is being said recently that this phrase should be vanished from our vocabulary and we should not be saying it all together because of its inaccuracy and ability to provide males with a false seen of security that they can do whatever they want and get away with it.

An article by The Huffington Post a couple of years ago explores the use of the phrase and why it should be erased for our vocabulary. Writer, Jennifer Hicks of The Huffington Post published an article entitled ‘Stop Saying ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ due to the very reason that it is inaccurate. She, in the article says that ‘it’s not in their [boys] genetic makeup to automatically be mean-spirited or cruel.’ Hicks then goes on to say that ‘boys may be more likely to engage in physical play and want hands on activates but there’s no connection between this and intentionally damaging others or causing pain’ – as boys have been recorded to have been doing in the past and getting away with it because ‘boys will be boys’. Hicks, in her article is saying that we should not be handing over a free pass for being unruly and hurtful because of the fact that it can have an impact on others and therefore, the phrase ‘boys will be boys’ is very outdated.

Also, on another site – Psychology Today, they have also published an article which outlines the reason for why we should top saying the phrase. The reason that they believe should encourage people to stop using the phrase that excuses boys of misbehaving through their actions or words include the danger that it prompts students to contact gender stereotypes. As well, these gender stereotypes allow unconscious bias to form and proliferate which essentially means that an attitude toward a particular group e.g. confident males can shape our interactions with that group and hinder the relationships people can form with them.

As well, although the phrase is only often used in relation to younger more confident boys that have a much more free imagination, I feel like it still works as a title for my magazine that focuses on teen boys. It shows the maturity of males and how although it develops in adolescence, their playful and hands on nature is still present and can still make an appearance very now and again. The shoot I produced in St Andrew’s Park with Alex and Charlie presents an effective juxtaposition of young and old / immature and mature.

The Guardian also wrote an article that addresses the need for us to stop using the phrase and relates it to its impact on how men can freely act misogynistic towards women because of their typical boisterous behaviours that have been excused for so long. The Guardian say that ‘men are not inherently violent, degrading and predatory and women are not inherently victims.’ This relates to my magazine also in the fact that I have named its issue ‘the male’s gaze’ and this phrase/theory paired with Boys Will Be Boys sets up the magazine’s internal content to be very heavily focused around the typical natures of boys and how they can misuse their stereotyped power over their female counterparts and on society as a whole to get away with unfair behaviour. However, my magazine focuses more on the behaviour of teen boys and how they find an outlet for expression and creativity in relation to clothes and the way they dress to feel a sense of confidence and comfort in their skin. It addresses boys needs to be powerful and dominant in their characters and personalities but how this is sometimes overrun by their vulnerability during adolescence and emphasised by their mounting pressures in life.