rock the boat

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rock the boat (third-person singular simple present rocks the boat, present participle rocking the boat, simple past and past participle rocked the boat)

1. (idiomatic) To disturb the status quo or go against rules or conventions, as in an effort to get attention.
   • 1978 August 19, Tim Cwiek, Karen DeCrow, “Interview: Former NOW President DeCrow Talks About Gay Issues”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 5, page 7:

     A lot of gay people I know, female and male, are conservative — perhaps even more conservative than they would be if they were non-gay because they've had such a hard struggle in life, they don't want to rock any boats.

   • 1984, Jim Bouton, Ball Four Plus Ball, page 410:

     Just when I'm asking myself if it's worth it to rock the boat and wondering if I should compromise, something will happen to keep me going. Like one year I got an award from a women's group for, "exposing the jockocratic values of society.

   I'd just jump in and fix it, but that's not my job, and I don't want to rock the boat.

• make waves; see also Thesaurus:nonconform