July, 2013 The Double-Standard Reason 359 – Page 377
THE DOUBLE-STANDARD
You were probably very young when you realized that life was different for
boys and girls. Girls were required to follow so many rules that it made life
less fun for them. You may have wished you were a boy because you realized
they had more freedom!
So many warnings about your safety, your body, your dress and behavior made
life feel like a threat. Your brothers were free to do as they pleased. The double
standard you lived by may have been your first conscious awareness that being a
girl wasn’t easy.
For years, the double standard was thought of as normal because men and
women were presumed to be fundamentally different. But years of research
have discovered more similarities than differences. Today, almost fifty years
after the creation of the new-feminism, the double standard prevails in
government, industry, and most especially, in family life.
In family life, women who have children cannot have it all and lose so much
opportunity, wealth and personal satisfaction. Without children, she can come
closer to equality.
The double standard is hurting you profoundly. It makes you angry and keeps
you poor. It may not be a standard you can change alone, however, you can
pledge to not live by it, not believe in it and not tolerate it.
Whenever the double standard is evoked, you are double-crossed. Your
awareness will strengthen your conviction to not live by the double standard.
Realizing that you are worthy of the same standard as the men in your life will
change the world substantially.
