Double Standards

We will all have experienced double standards once in our lives. We girls are constantly looked down upon for doing certain acts while most of the time boys are praised for the same things. Double standards may only continue to pervade our lives socially. Simply put, a double standard is a rule or principle applied more strictly to one gender than another. A simple action or attitude could have completely different implications depending on ones gender. What happens when a man or a woman steps outside of their "typical role" and takes on actions or attitudes associated most commonly with the opposite gender? More often than not, a double standard comes into play.

Guys certainly get away with things that us girls wouldn't even considering doing and vice versa. One example would be, a high school student who has already slept with five people enters a new school. What people will say about this person's sexual experiences depends on one factor: gender. If the person is a male, he will be admired and respected by his fellow friends and is generally referred to as "the player." However, if the person is a girl she will most likely be subjected to ridicule and disrespect by her peers. The guys will try to use her, hoping that they can get her into bed and she will generally be referred to as "the slut." If you're a guy and you sleep with everyone, you're automatically cool, but if you're a girl, you're automatically a slut. This player vs. slut philosophy is familiar to most students, but very unfair to the high school population of females.

The media certainly sends a double standard into the minds of men and women. When one pictures the physical appearance of the so-called perfect girl, there is not a great deal of physical characteristics to choose from. The media only sends girls one type of woman to aspire to look like. They send the supermodel image; tall, thin, with flawless skin and hair. Men, on the other hand, can look any number of ways and still fit into the male beauty standard because the media does not send audiences only one type of man. Along the lines of female appearance and trying to be skinny, if a girl is seen at the lunch table eating a sandwich, potato chips, cookies, and candy, it is automatically assumed that she is "fat" or a "pig." Many may stare in disbelief at how much she is eating and sometimes