Stick (one's) head above the parapet British phrase
Opposite phrase: keep one's head below the parapet.
Parapets are banks of earth or walls which soldiers build for protection against enemy attacks.
To be courageous enough to express your feelings or thoughts about someone/something that might distress someone and make them attack or criticize you.
I admire Mary for sticking her head above the parapet.
No one in my class stuck their heads above the parapet when being asked how to abate climate change - they were afraid of being criticized as impractical.
The verb "stick" must be conjugated according to its tense.
The origin of this phrase is not clear.
To tell someone the truth about something that they had not understood or received false information
I have to set my wife straight about what happened yesterday.