Double standards should cease to exist

Jillian Ferry, Assistant Online Editor in Chief

Imagine a world where someone can be discriminated for doing an action that someone else can do with ease. Unfortunately one does not have to imagine such a world. Everyday in every place we deal with double standards. Whether it’s at school and the workplace, or at a store downtown. Double standards are very real and a very big problem.

A mother who is breastfeeding in public is yelled at for nudity, while those same people who discriminate her support lingerie advertisements displayed largely throughout a shopping area.

A man who is seen crying is considered ‘weak’, while the crying woman next to him is just ‘sensitive’.

A high school senior is 18, and old enough to vote, old enough to join the army and old enough to have a credit card, yet they still have to ask their teacher to go to the restroom.

These are all examples of double standards that we as humans cause every single day. They cause depression, anger and for some people to never feel like they are good enough for society. As humans we impose these standards with almost no effort, not caring about the consequences that our words cause.

A woman is told that she wears too much makeup or that she does not need it, however when she goes out without makeup on she is told she looks sick.

Someone drives too close to the person in front on the highway of them and we consider them to be a bad driver, however we do the same and consider it just a mistake.

A person of faith shares their religion on social media and is praised however an atheist does the same and is said to be pushing their ideals on to others.

However, here is a way that a world like this could cease to exist. If we stopped these standards and started accepting people for who they are, that mother could feel comfortable nursing her baby in public, or that crying man could know that showing emotion is okay. If we think about the words we say and the effect that they have on others, double standards will disappear.