What happens when you ask young boys to slap a girl?
It starts off with simple questions. Their name, their age, what they want to be when they grow up and why.
Then a girl is introduced and they get a little bashful.
She doesn’t speak, but they are asked what they think of her.
They all pay the girl they have never met before a compliment – they like her hair, her eyes, her shoes, and one boy even says ‘everything’.
When they are asked to stroke her, they oblige – either stroking her hair, face or arm.
But then it takes a sinister turn. They are asked to slap her.
They look questioningly at the person telling them to slap her, nervously look at the girl then refuse the command.
One boy says: ‘Girls shouldn’t be hit – not even with a flower.’
One boy adds ‘because I’m a man’.
