5 Year Anniversary-Double Standards

Today is the 5 year Anniversary of Chaka's World. To celebrate, I thought I'd share some thought I have about double standards. Double Standards are found in many different aspects of life. They are common in politics, but I'm going to avoid that topic. One double standard that comes to mind is how it is acceptable for girls and women to idolize and talk about how gorgeous some men are, but if a guy does the same thing about beautiful women, it doesn't seem to work out quite as well.

Let me first start with teenage girls and young women. If you see their Pinterest board or posters in their room, they will probably have tons of pictures of Zac Efron, Ryan Gosling, and Taylor Lautner and they will comment how they are such a hunk, dream boat, or some other lame name to indicate how infatuated they are with them.

Now if a teenage boy puts pictures of Selena Gomez, Brooklyn Decker, or Megan Fox up and comments about how "hot" they are, then they are often accused of objectifying women and looking at them as objects as opposed to human beings.

An extension of this double standard that really bothers me is when women with boyfriends or even married women will list as their likes on Facebook and say things like Hugh Jackman or George Clooney and rant and rave about how they are so in love with some celebrity in front of their significant other.

If a married guy were to talk about how beautiful he thinks Kate Beckinsale or Halle Barry is in front of his wife, then people will think he is an insensitive jerk or his wife will probably take offense and elbow him in the ribs. So what's up with that? Luckily my wife isn't that way. She only has me wear that Brad Pitt mask each evening when I get home because she said the kids think it's funny.

The most extreme level of this double standard is when married women like Twilight Moms totally get into teenage boys that are half their age. People might look at them and think they are a little fanatical and shake their head and laugh, but if a grown man were to act the same way over a teenage starlet, then people would be clamoring for them to be listed on the national sex offender registry.

One other area that comes to mind is how women are able to compliment other women so easily with no questions asked. I always hear women say things like "She is soooo gorgeous", " you have the most amazing eyes, hair, etc". If I were to tell a male co-worker or friend that he looked "so handsome", the eyebrows of everyone within earshot would raise and it would get really awkward.

Even though there are double standards and they don't seem fair, I'm kind of glad that some of the rules don't apply to men and women equally.