“If you look back in history
It’s a common double standard of society
The guy gets all the glory the more he can score
While the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore”
– Christina Aguilera, Can’t Hold Us Down.
Christina Aguilera addressed the world with these wise, feminist words, whilst dressed in lilac hot pants and a boob tube. That in itself is a double standard. But there is no denying the truth in her lyrics. We all know guys who pride themselves on hitting multiple double figures with the number of women they’ve bedded. They will happily sit there and talk openly about their conquests, willingly destroying the looks, personality or sexual ability of whichever poor girl that fell prey to their come-hither eyes the night before. This is rewarded with high fives and backslaps, perhaps even a pint at the pub.
But what happens to the girl who needs more than two hands to count the number of people she’s slept with? Well, as Lil Kim would say, “if the girl do the same, then she’s a whore”.
And, although it’s easy to criticize, we’ve all labeled people for this. If you see a girl doing the walk of shame home, high heels in hand, lipstick smudged, it’s hard not to frown at that sort of behaviour, the sort of behaviour that, of course, you would never be caught dead doing. But the guy that swaggers home- and yes, they do always swagger- is given a congratulatory nod, not just by his fellow men, but by girls too.
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But this double standard isn’t limited solely to the judging of one’s sexual prowess. Those of you in relationships have not escaped it. That boyfriend who showers you with flowers and meals out is a romantic, the perfect man. But the girlfriend who does the same? She’s whipped. It isn’t cute; it’s needy and she’s paying for everything to keep the guy. And what about allowing your boyfriend to go out and get pissed with all the lads? That’s a necessity, he needs ‘man time’. Obviously. Can you blow him off to do the same? No, of course not, because you’ll just spend all night being hit on by other guys who are only talking to you to get one thing. If the boy’s night ends with him hugging the toilet seat, then that was a good night out. The girl who does the same, wiping vomit from her freshly straightened hair, is a ‘mess’, ‘pathetic’, someone who just cannot handle their alcohol.
However, Her Campus would be lying to you if they told you that these double standards only favour women, that you’re getting the bum deal with everything and might as well just give up now. As much as we “like” to be the victims, men are also discriminated by the rules of double standards and sometimes you really do have to feel sorry for them… A guy who isn’t sport and gym obsessed can labelled a loser. A guy who actually likes his girlfriend and doesn’t want to cheat on her with hordes of innocent freshers is named a “schweff”. How many times have you used tears to get out being suspended from school, grounded by parents or dumped by boyfriends? A guy who cries is considered the worst “lad” of all.
So girls, when you’re next feeling sorry for yourself or the girl you hear getting slated by your male friends, then don’t forget that we’re not as innocent as we first appear. We, too, are guilty of inflicting the double standards on others and definitely give as good as we get.
Photo Credits: www.dailymail.co.uk, www.storage.canoe.ca, www.cloudfront.bostinno.com, www.unfinishedman.com.