How would you feel if you were called a slut? No one would be happy if they were called a slut, especially if a man is the one who delivers the insult to a woman. No girl wants a bad reputation. In an article based on her book, Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation,” Leora Tanenbaum talks about a double standard women face every day. The article points out that before the age of 18 over half of all girls in the United States have had sex, while according to a New York Times poll, 53% of girls said sex before marriage is “always wrong.” Nearly three quarters of boys engage in sex at least once before the age of 18, but only 41% of guys think sex before marriage is “always wrong.” In high school most girls engage in sex to fit in, but once they have sex their peers bash them. A lot of girls are judged harshly based on their promiscuity. When I was in high school I only knew of a few girls who had sex. Most of my classmates wanted to wait until marriage. The few girls who did have sex were called rollers and sluts. Many guys saw these girls as easy, but this is of course a double standard. In high school boys often face pressure when it comes to having sex as well. In contrast to the experiences of many women, if a guy is a virgin when he is 18, people may think he is gay or inept. Guys often boast about having many sex partners so they can be seen as cool. But if guys can sleep around, why can’t girls? In her article, Tanenbaum recounts how one high school dealt with a huge controversy regarding sex among its teen students. At this particular school, many girls were found giving boys oral sex in parties and public parks. Reports about this in the media depicted the girls as promiscuous. The school responded immediately by calling the girls’ parents. Many girls were “reeducated” about teen sex because of this scandal, but what about the boys? The boys at this school did not receive any media attention, they did not receive any punishment by the school, their parents were not called, and they were not “reeducated.” Why did the girls face trouble while the boys received pats on the head? Adults called the girls sluts, and the boys were told that they were just acting like boys. If you think about it, things have been this way for a long time in the United States. I recently saw the documentary, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. In it, women were walking around in bikinis, but as they walked they were faced with men grabbing them as if they were merely objects. . In a lot of hip hop music videos, along with cars, jewelry and money, women are seen as material objects that men simply acquire in order to feel successful. One day when society becomes less male dominated, maybe women will receive the respect they deserve. ~ Chellebell
7 Comments
lishide
4/9/2010 02:37:36 pm
Check out Erykah Badu's video for 'window seat.' It seems relevant to the topic you discuss.
Reply
Mike
4/9/2010 10:50:45 pm
Nice blog post!
Reply
Irina
4/10/2010 12:54:59 am
nice article,
Reply
Richelle Berry
4/10/2010 05:21:35 am
I agree with lishide, the erykah badu video is a good example of double standards. Its weird that she received so much trouble for her nudity, but a lot of hip hop videos portray women the same way. Its her video she should be able to do whatever she wants.
Reply
chantelle berry
4/11/2010 10:44:45 am
I agree with your blog. There are definetly double standards when it comes to men and women and sex. Men are praised for having many sex partners, while women are called sluts for having many sex partners. Its not fair.
Reply
Tamaki Sakuma
4/18/2010 09:30:22 am
I am from Japan and as the U.S., there is a double standard concerning sexual behaviors between men and women in Japanese society. Sexuality is more acceptable and natural and uncontrollable for men while women's sexuality is regard less acceptable. For example, there are so many adult cartoons, magazines, video games, and pornographies, which are created to satisfy men's sexual desires; on the other hand, there is few for women. As Hip Hop has a huge impact on American society, these industries accelerate exploitation of female sexuality and create disrespectful attitudes toward women in Japanese society.
Reply
Go Terps
4/27/2010 04:58:00 am
Women are called a sluts when they do the same actions that men do sexually. But if you think about the individuals who mainly use the term slut and call other women sluts are females themselves. Most females judge other females for committing sexual acts. So basically women in the society is feeding into this double standard. If we want this problem to change, we have to first start with the women in our society and stop name calling other females. When females label other females as a slut it only gives males permission to do the same.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorsThe Class Blog Project, or CBP, is a blog featuring undergraduate students forming a critical dialogue with each other around ideas related to the sociology of gender. Archives
May 2010
Categories
All
|