#boycode

~Someday we’ll all just be strangers with memories~

LET THE KIDS HAVE FUN!

Here are my three younger cousins under the age of ten that look up to me. They are constantly engulfed in technology so while I’m visiting home, I try to get them to use their imagination. One of the games we like to play together is charades. We write out things to act on pieces of paper and one by one we take turns to act and guess.

One day we were playing charades and the oldest boy picked out “princess.” As soon has he read the paper he laughed and kept repeating “no.” He refused to act out the word because he was a boy. The fact that a nine year old boy felt he couldn’t participate in a game of charades because of gender norms is incredibly sad. In the household he is growing up in it is very clear that princesses and the color pink are for girls and videogames and the color blue are for boys. Of my three cousins, there are two boys and one girl. The two boys are told to toughen up while the girl is told to play dress up.

The unspoken ”boycode,” as Jackson Katz explains in Tough Guise 2, is a concept written by William Pollack, “in which boys are taught at a very early age to act tough and not show their feelings…” It is explained that boys are taught to think this way and be put into somewhat of a “box”. If they step out of that box then they are weak, feminine, or gay. I try to explain to my younger cousins that it is okay to act as a princess in a game of charades or in any other situation. It doesn’t prove anything for you, and it shouldn’t let anyone think differently of you. In fact, you should never tell someone they can or can’t be or pretend to be something if that’s what they enjoy. Boys can like princesses too and girls can like the color blue. Either way, they’re just kids having fun.

In the book “Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School : Strategies That Turn Underachievers into Successful Learners”, Kathleen Palmer Cleveland writes about “the boy code” which consists of seven rules about how to be considered masculine according to societies expectations of gender roles.

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The Spotlight

By Alan Ho

Who:  Boycode Where:  Belgium For fans of:  One Direction, O-Town, Westlife, Union J

Some proclaimed that the boy band (or young male pop group) era was over when One Direction announced about a year ago that they would be going on a hiatus with a return still up in the air.  Someone forgot to tell this slowly rising and bubbling foursome out of Belgium that was formed actually two years ago but began to slowly rise in the past year.  Could they fill the void left behind by One Direction, who themselves filled the void 6 years ago left behind by the likes of Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and even the Jonas Brothers?

In comes Belgian foursome Boycode.  The group’s formation is not any different from Big Time Rush, O-Town and to a certain extent, One Direction.  Hundreds of candidates in Belgium answered the call and Filip Perdu whittled it down to these four:  Lennert, Mattias, Gregory and Timmy.  An X-Factor-like boot camp ensued for the four and end result is a group of four ready to take the world by storm with their catchy and infectious pop and make this year they year of Boycode!

Already a hit in Europe and in China, the Belgian group are taking on their biggest challenge yet, the United Kingdom, no stranger to pop group sensations themselves.  Their UK debut is set for May 1 titled “After Juliet.” And then, who knows what’s next….perhaps a visit to the other side of the pond????

Guess we’ll see, but in the meantime for our American readers who love their boy band pop, get to know to this foursome, they could be coming here next after the UK!  They already have an array of singles and music videos alongside to check out!

Most Recent Video: Runaway

Video:  Not Giving Up

Video: It’s a Mistake

Video:  I Got My Mind Set On You

Links:

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America has revised its ideas about girls and women. But now it's our turn! It's time for evaluating the traditional ideas about boys, men, and masculinity. Not "even in the most progressive schools and the most politically correct communities in every part of the country and in families of all types, the Boy Code continues to affect the behavior of all of us--the boys themselves, their parents, their teachers, and society as a whole. None of us is immune--it is so ingrained" (Pollack).