Quote:

 

"I do not wish [women] to have power over men, but over themselves."

--Mary Wollstonecraft



Most of us has seen the movie, Easy A, the comedy film in which Emma Stone plays Olive Penderghast who through a small lie is eventually isolated and critisized for her "apparent" promiscious behavior. Throughout the movie, Olive admitted to performing (but not really acting out on them) sexual acts with young men in order to elevate their social status in school. Despite the juicy plot, it ultimately illustrates the age old debate and idea that creates the sexual divide between men and women. We are all familiar with this double standard that says if a man has multiple sexual partners (at the same time and at separate times), for the most part he's considered a player (ladies man, womanizer..etc.) and recieves very little or no criticism and judged positively on their sexual activities. However, if a woman has multiple sexual partners (at the same time and at separate times) then she is labeled as a careless promiscuous person and called names such as slut or whore while at the same time recieving harsh backlash and criticism for such behavior from both females and males. So where does this double standard come from? Is it a product of sexism? Misogyny? Maybe the double standard was designed to keep women feeling inferior for carrying out the same behaviors as men and for keeping women subservient to men in order to keep them happy. Let's also keep in mind however that men alone do not also perpetuate this double standard; women also stigmatize and isolate other women for having multiple partners.



In today's general society, most of the population gives into this virgin/whore dichotomy (if you don't know what it is, look it up) without realizing that there is a happy medium in between which most reject instead of embracing it. There is a small population of smart, responsible, protected, sexually-liberated young women who embrace their femininity and sexuality without being vulgar. The unfortunate side of this however, is that they still recieve backlash for doing so. Women are sent messages in magazines, pop culture and other forms of media that encourages sexual and flirty behavior but FOR GOD'S SAKE DO NOT SLEEP WITH HIM BECAUSE IF YOU DO YOU ARE A WHORE. These messages and the virgin/whore dichotomy are not new, they stem from tradition and culture. I'd like to use Mexican culture and tradition as an example. Now, as we all know, Mexico is predominantly Roman Catholic (1) when Spain conquered the Aztec they brought along the religion. Let''s look at Roman Catholicism in Mexico briefly and specifically at the adoration of the Virgen Maria. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary is held up as a role model for women. She symbolizes female "virtues" such as obedience, submission, chastity and silence and women are often encouraged to emulate her. In addition, the words whore and harlot are used frequently in the bible to describe women who deviated from the double standards sexual moral code. Women's bodies were not their own but the property of fathers and husbands. Virginity and chastity were mandatory for women and any woman breaking the double standard moral code was put to death. So you see now how women are encouraged to minimalize the number of sexual partners in order to make themselves seem more appealing to a future spouse. Most men have that testosterone driven, territorrial instinct to think of their women as "theirs" (as in property) and this instinct is bolstered even more so if the woman has had fewer sexual partners or even none (that's even better because then she's all yours!) It's a huge stroke to their ego. In essence, this double standard is not limited to religion, it is also seen in many patriarchal societies all over the world.



Now let's look at how this double standard keeps men happy. Men like tight vaginas right? A vagina is a muscle and like every other muscle it gradually loses it's muscle tone. Decreased vaginal tightness is caused my a number of factors but mostly for two main reasons: sex and childbirth. If a woman decreases her number of sexual partners, her vagina will generally remain tighter and thereby remain more desirable to a man. In turn, despite the number of partners a man has, his penis remains unchanged.



There is also a biological stand point in which you could look at this double standard but I'm getting tired of typing so look at it here (2) if your really interested. I'm going to sum it up: men are programmed biologically to repopulate (keep in mind that this is before moral standards were instilled in society) and are able to have hundreds of children because of their constant sperm production which starts from puberty until death. This is to ensure that the genetic material is passed on to the next generation and to propagate the survival of the species. In contrast, women from the time they start puberty to the start of menopause are only able to have a finite number of children. Thus, men are at a distinct advantage and could have multiple partners.



Men should be held to the same moral and sexual standards of women and if not, the sexual liberation of women should not be stigmatized. There are women who could sucessfully disconnect their emotions from sex, differentiate between sex and love and understand that one does not always equal the other. When looking at how many partners a woman has had and saying that she's slept with "too many men" you are making a completely subjective assessment. I don't think anyone should be praised or condemned based solely on the number of sexual partners an individual has had. If you want to take into consideration the circumstances under which these encounters happen then that's a different story. However, there lies the line of judgement. When do you start making judgements about someone? You don't. A person's sexual history is none of your business unless they choose to tell you about it but, “There are so many qualities that make up a human being… by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant.” (3).





References/Footnotes

1. http://countrystudies.us/mexico/61.htm

2. stretching the fucking page

3. Paul Newman on Gay rights (using this quote a little out of context but it is still applicable)

.

Kollage

Oct 7 2011, 03:14 PM

Is it just my screen or does the layout of this page for this thread look retarded?

Quote:

 

If a key opens many locks, it's a master key
If a lock is opened by many keys, it's a shitty lock