Boys to Men In the essay What Does “Boys Will Be Boys” Really Mean, the author Deborah Roffman explains how people perceive and classify boys to be extremely messy in their actions and continuously receive passes for their unacceptable behavior. In the essay How Boys Become Men, the statement “Boys Will Be Boys” expresses how the rules boys set for themselves in their childhood unintentionally effects the decisions they make in their adulthood. The two essays focus on different situations but they come together with the same opinion about men and boys; of whom they focus on the most. One essay focuses mainly on how boys behave and the reason why people classify them the way they do, whereas, the other essay focuses on the effects of how boys learn to behave a certain way and grows into adolescents with the same behavior. While some similarities between What Does “Boys Will Be Boys” Really Mean? and How Boys Become Men are evident in their attention to stress how society sets standards and forces a stereotype upon the men and boys, they have different interpretations. …show more content…
A human sexuality teacher tries to explain throughout the essay how boy’s behaviors match up to the standards society sets for them. “We’ll know we’ve succeeded when boys call one another more often on disrespectful behavior, instead of congratulatory, because they will have the self-respect and confidence that comes with being held to and holding themselves to high standards”. (Roffman 24). The teacher states “I confiscated a hat from a student’s head that read, “I’m a Pimp”…I asked the boy whether he would wear hat that said “I’m a Rapist”…I said “Do you have any idea what real pimps do to keep their girls’ in line?”(Roffman 11).