Sociology Paper - Double Standard

From the moment we are born gender plays a huge role in our upbringing and the molding of our behavior. There have many been times that I have felt belittled for being a female. I have never felt truly discriminated by being female; however, I have felt that people have had sexist attitudes towards me. For example, I have dealt with the "double standard" growing up and out in the real world. Not only have I dealt with a double standard, but I have dealt with others believing I should learn my place. Even though women's rights have come a long way there are still many prejudice ideas that we still have to overcome.

The very first time I have truly felt the difference between being a male and a female was the "double standard". My younger brother always seemed to get to do more things than me. Like rough-housing for example. The old comment, "Oh boys will be boys," by my parents never ceased to amaze me. However, as a girl rough-housing was an unbecoming thing for a little girl. As I got older there were other things I wasn't allowed to do because I might get hurt; however, my brother was never restricted as it would toughen him up. Getting into my teenage years, and experiencing rebellious teenage hormones, I wasn't allowed to even think about boys until sixteen. However, it would have been unnatural if my brother wasn't ogling over girls by the age of thirteen. I know that my parents were only looking out for my best interests, but still to this day it amazes me how much of a "double standard" there really is. Why can a boy protect himself and a girl can't?

Being a young woman in the work world and in society has come with other types of prejudices besides the "double standard". To this day there are some that believe every woman should be a stay at home mother, cooks dinner every night by 5 o'clock, and cleans the home. My grandparent's have expected me, at age twenty, to start having children. I have goals and future plans that don't revolve around the idea of starting a family. This just amazes some people, especially the much older generations. I hate the comments "shouldn't you be in the kitchen." I know these are jokes but you only say something if you believe it to be at least fifty percent true. Other stereotypes or prejudices I believe are the comments like, "women can't drive." All the men in my family have worse driving records than me, but one ticket one fender bender and its game on with the jokes and the comments. Men in the workforce especially have said things like, "why do you worry about the government?" or they make comments about keeping thoughts in my head. Girls can have opinions that matter too. I realize there will always be prejudice ideas and stereotypes about how women should behave and act.

There have been many things I do to overcome the prejudices I face with