Lillian Tafoya

Mr. Lundstrom
ELA, Period 3
12 January, 2016.
The Fear of Patronizing Double-Standards.
There is a particular demand for the perfect woman, in society; objectively a
woman who knows nor too much nor too little about sports, claims the lacking ability to
change a tire, or fathom the idea behind independence. This branches off of deep
stemmed male insecurity and nearly centuries of associating gender roles that no longer
stand true. The pressure placed on the feminine youth (anyone who identifies as
female), to constantly appease the opposite gender is unrelenting and vicious, offering
up obverse equality: slowly thickening the already prominent glass ceiling that
separates women and men. While gender inequality rears a more ugly head in less
developed countries, its still very important that women in more developed countries
take action to lessen the effects. The constant fear of overcoming dense, degrading,
and unnecessary restrictions placed on us by men often times allows equality to go by
the wayside.
Apart from casual vindictiveness, female inequality rages in less developed
countries, primarily feeding off of the fear of death. Take countries like India, for
example. Gender inequality in India is a multifaceted issue that concerns men and
women alike. Practiced customs such as Sati, otherwise known as Widow Burning, an
archaic Indian tradition where in a woman burns to death or commits suicide in some
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other fashion timely after her husbands death, puts Indian women at an even greater
disadvantage. Other disgusting and discriminatory customs include Dowry Deaths,
when a woman is murdered or driven towards suicide by her husband, and BrideBurning, when a newlywed woman is doused in kerosene and lit on fire. Feminist
movements are growing in India, but at one point, just like anywhere else, they were
unheard of.
This was mainly due to the plummeting Crude birth and literacy rates, leaving
women uneducated and afraid. Dr. Ignu Agnihotri, director for the Center for Womens
Development Studies, said in a New York times article, The lack of progressive values
unleashes a strange volatility in the social system, and this affects the women who are
the most vulnerable section of the population.(Bagri). Practiced, oppressive culture only
degrades a group of people over time, especially if theyre submissive enough to let it,
and the women of less developed countries are not equipped with even solid ground to
stand on.
The essential question is, how does this compare to the women in America who
face sexism through thought manipulation rather than menacing physical harm? When it
comes to sexism, the truth is that most, if not all women experience it. Women in
America are presented with the more vague, but taunting form of sexism. The phrases
that come up in everyday conversation, such as, you throw like a girl, or even, man
up, make girls out to be inferior and weak. However, in the U.S., Feminism is more

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unanimous, pressing, and most importantly, acknowledged. Which abundantly
surpasses the recognition of sexist cultures and practices in less developed countries.

A very important aspect of Feminism worth mentioning is education. In first world

countries, like America and England, women do not have to choose life over education,
or vice versa. Nor are we forced to adopt lifestyles in which we are solely expected to
birth eight or nine boys and find ways to feed them. School is our schedule, its often
unquestioned, and not a day goes by where a woman in America wakes up and says to
herself, whatll it be today, an opportunity at education, or imminent death? Not to say
that blatant sexism is unimportant, but the big problems we should be focusing on are
acts of hate and discrimination that threaten us as women, or, more specifically; the
women in underdeveloped countries who are forced to bestow men with their desired
amount of offspring, and nothing else. An amazing and inspiring example of female
strength is the story of Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate, and
Pakistani activist for female education.
Malala is known for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her
native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Northwest Pakistan, where
the local taliban had at times banned young girls from attending school. Her family
owned a chain of schools in the area, and after writing a blog under a pseudonym for
BBC about her life under Taliban occupation, she quickly gained recognition. On
October 9th, 2012, she boarded her school bus only to be called by name, by a
gunman. He fired three bullets, one of which travelled down the length of the left side of
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her face, and eventually into her shoulder. She was in critical condition but eventually
recovered, and once she did, she began advocating for education rights once again.
Malalas courageous decision resulted in the publication of her book, I Am Malala. She

exemplified absurd double-standards on page thirteen, where she said, I was a girl in a
land where rifles are fired in celebration of a son, while daughters are hidden away
behind a curtain, their role in life simply to prepare food and give birth to children.
(Yousafzai).
It seems that no matter how loud an action speaks, it is still rarely talked about as
much as it is deserved. It happens everywhere, from wrongly acquitted rape cases to
male exclusive clubs, the degradation of women is more subtle, but nonetheless
apparent. Tyrannic leaders like Donald Trump only ever receive criticisms for being
racist, when he goes out of his way to oppress the entire female population (and
somehow the fact that he allegedly raped his first wife Ivana evades his campaign?).
Little girls idolize the minion movies, when the creator, Pierre Coffin, even went so far as
to say, Seeing how dumb and stupid they often are, I just couldnt imagine minions
being girls. We are living in a world where sexism, as unclassy as it makes public
figures seem, is often glorified.
One of the most putrid rape cases streaming the internet recently was one in
which a London court cleared a rich Saudi Arabian of raping an 18 year old girl after he
claimed that he ...accidentally tripped and penetrated her, but nothing ever happened.
(Deacon). The woman herself testified in the case, but to no avail, her sexual predator
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was let off of the hook. The entire acquittal of this case proves that if you have enough
money and are completely dead inside, you can get out of the most heinous crimes
scratch free.

2015 was a year in which sexism got very real, very quick. Terrible events
ranging from Planned Parenthood shootings to the threat of defunding it all together.
Abortion in itself is not that problematic of a topic. A woman should always have the
right to do what she wants with her body, and even so, the ignorant, sexist argument
regarding rape-only policies, practically denotes that a woman should only have a say
in what happens to her body after shes been abused. The 2015 debriefing continued
with very popular date-rape ads, reinstated NFL players formally accused of domestic
violence, Bill Cosbys growing list of victims, (and sadly, supporters), and the cherry on
top, when politicians compared abortion to slavery and terrorism. (Pearson).
Another unfair aspect of the glass ceiling is the belief that feminists hate men.
The entire point behind movements like feminism is to dispose of inequality completely.
Josh Whedon, an American screenwriter and television producer summed it up
unequivocally:

Equality is not a concept. It's not something we should be striving for. It's a
necessity.Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women,
and the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is

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life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every
man and woman who's confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.

Amazing things happen when people work together and stand for a good cause.
Thats exactly why fears of double-standards or sexism is sometimes necessary, and no

doubt very important. Discrimination should not be allowed towards any gender, race, or
ethnicity, but it definitely allows us to perceive right from wrong and treat people with the
same respect they treat us. Its mutualism, and the fear is understandable until changes
are made to how society functions. Sexism is practically systemic, its a hard thing to get
rid of, and its definitely not compatible with progress. However, If all women stand for
Feminism, especially intersectional feminism, the world could see equality.

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Works Cited Page

Bagri, Neha. "Where Is India's Feminist Movement Headed?" New York Times 8 Mar.
2013. Print.
Deacon, Liam. "Saudi Millionaire Who Accidentally Tripped And Penetrated Teen
Cleared of Rape." Breitbart Magazine 16 Dec. 2015. Print.
Pearson, Catherine. "24 Times Sexism Was Very, Very Real In 2015."Huffington Post 9
Dec. 2015. Print.
Yousafzai, Malala. I Am Malala. Little, Brown, 2012.