Double Standards: what they are and represent for Gender Equality
Some weeks ago I was on youtube and I came across a Family Feud video. For those of you who don’t know, Family Feud is a TV show hosted by Steve Harvey where two families or two groups of celebrities battle it out by answering survey questions.
The specific episode I watched starred the bands 5SOS and the Chainsmokers and it was honestly very entertaining. I laughed a few times until I came across this specific video — it’s a cut from the episode.
As you can see, the title of this category was ‘’Guys, if you are dating more than one woman…’, and they basically had to fill in the blank with things you do if you date more than one person.
At first, I didn’t think too much of it but that quickly changed when I checked the comment section of the video. Someone said ‘’I hate that male infidelity is so normalized. Imagine the comment section if they played it reverse’’.
Reading this comment, and what people had to say about it, made me think about double standards in society.
If you don’t know what Double Standards are, they are ‘’rules’’ or standards of good behavior that, unfairly, some people are expected to follow or achieve but other people are not.
To make it clearer what Double Standards are, just take a lot at this Archie Comics explanation.
Do you know what the problem with this is? It’s that we unintentionally do these things and we don’t acknowledge how dangerous this line of thinking can be.
For example, we constantly spread the idea that men are book smart whereas women are emotionally smart. Seemingly, there’s nothing wrong with it, right? Well, actually there’s a lot that is wrong with that.
Do you know what being emotionally smart means? It means that you are not only able to control your own emotions but other people’s emotions as well, through your speech.
It’s important that we know that definition because this comes rooted in the idea that women are good manipulators. And this argument is often used to discredit women’s opinions and voices.
Take a look at Taylor Swift, for an instance. She’s very famous for writing songs about heartbreak.
Besides that, she’s constantly being criticized for writing about her feelings and she’s been accused of manipulating men into dating her, just so she can write a new album.
Don’t believe it? Just take a look at these headlines:
Now, let me ask you, how many male singers do you know that write, consistently, about heartbreak?
Here are some big names: Ed Sheeran, John Legend, even Frank Ocean!
And, do you see people criticizing these artists for it? No. Just take a look at these:
Before you come at me and say I purposely choose magazine covers that favored these artists, you can search on GOOGLE ‘’ magazine headlines about [fill here]’’, and you will see that you will come up with the same results as I did for all of these artists.
Now you’re thinking: we get it, but what is your point?
My point is, this doesn’t only happen to singers. It happens to people like Greta Thunberg, that is labeled emotional and irrational. It happens to people like Oprah, that is labeled as a victim player and manipulator. It happens to every-day women that are labeled as ‘’Just women’’.
Because only 27% of us ‘’Just Women’’, worldwide, occupy managerial positions. Because we are ‘’Just Women’’, we, on average, only represent 24,2% of the seats in the National Parliaments. Because we are ‘’Just Women’’, we are still seen as not good enough.
It’s time we speak up and fight for more representation and to be heard. We can vote, we can work and we can own a bank account. But, none of this matters if we can’t be valued to our full extent.
We are just not our emotions and our bodies, we are our brains and our skills and, together, if we fight this, we can get a world that is equal.
Let’s break stereotypes and stop using gender boundaries as an excuse to not fight for what we want. Let’s march together for equality. Let’s vote for laws that reinforce equality for both genders. Let’s stop using our gender as an excuse for our hatred towards one another. Let’s build a better world.
A World where a couple can belong in the kitchen together. A world where men can wear pink and not be gay. A world where we can be who we want to be, regardless of our gender identity.
