Skylar+R’s+2017+OpEd+Article

Double Standards

As a girl in high school, if you sleep with a guy, you’re labeled a slut or worse. But if a guy sleeps with a girl, they just get praised by their friends. And as a mother, you’re supposed to quit your job to stay at home and take care of your children while your husband goes to work and supports the family.

Double standards suck.

As a girl, you’re expected to be skinny and small, and those who aren’t often feel pressure from society to lose weight. But men also like females who are “thick” and “curvy”, so what is a woman to do? My parents also see that woman need to be “thin”, so while at dinner my brothers get second servings, my parents say that I don’t need all of that food and should maybe drink some water if i’m not full. Everyone in my family calls me a “pig” because I like to eat a lot. Even though I was doing basketball practice for 5 days a week for 2 ½ hours and wanted to relax on the weekends, my parents would call me “lazy” and had me go walk the dog or do something other than “laying around all day”.

Whenever I go out with friends, my parents want to know who I’m going to be hanging out with, and if I’m just hanging out with guys, my parents will start asking questions about who these guys are and if their parents will be home. But if I’m going to hang out with girls, my parents don’t mind at all. My brothers also seem to have a lot more freedom than me and get to stay out later. Also if they’re dating my parents are fine with it, but as soon as I start mentioning boys, they say that I shouldn’t be dating until I’m at least forty! My parents say that “I’m a girl, and need more protection”, and that my brothers “are guys, and can stick up for themselves”. These assumptions are stupid! Some woman can definitely stick up for themselves, but in almost every kidnapping movie, it’s the girl that gets kidnapped.

Double standards need to stop, and shouldn’t set standards on what sex you are.