As one looks at the events of the past year in the United States,  it is painfully clear that inequality exists on many levels.  The long-held idea of the double standard with regard to men and women has been the predominant way in which we have viewed a double standard.  And the lack of progress in this area is something that is evidenced in the way that some men still treat women as reflected in the numbers of assault and rape. Here are some statistics. According to a US Department of Justice report, “1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men have been stalked by an intimate partner during their lifetime to the point in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.“ and “1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the United States has been raped in their lifetime.” This disparity is listed in additional statistics in a report by the CDC in 2010 as well as many other publications.

Working in public high schools I have seen a double standard at play on a daily basis.  Girls being touched and and groped at in the hallways is bad enough.  But sadly, I also see a willingness of many girls wanting to be paid attention to, even if it is degrading.  For girls to feel this way, it has been learned somewhere, and the media enforces the idea by constantly repeating such scenes of violence, making it seem to be an unalterable fact.  This is and has been an unacceptable truth, but it continues.

And now, there are new and renewed double standards in the way our culture behaves toward some of our citizens, that suggests gross inequalities in the way people of some races, ethnicities, sexual orientations, religions and immigrants are treated.  Much of this was aggravated in the 2016 election, when the country’s diametrically opposed political ideologies were fueled by hate rhetoric.  This rhetoric ignited flames of prejudices that were already a part of a double standard, but were often masked because acting on them was recognized as being unacceptable by much of the population.

Regardless of the whos and whys, all people should be able to be themselves as long as they don’t hurt anyone in the process.  That is what freedom is all about.  And in this country, these are the things we hold dear.  In spite of our failings, our Constitution respects and protects the rights of all citizens and has been a stronghold in the belief that “all men are created equal.”  We have long been a country of immigrants and our Statue of Liberty holds the flame of hope for those who are oppressed.  Maybe, we all should take a look at ourselves and uncover the ways our prejudices reflect our actions.  Hopefully, as a nation we will more closely live up to the ideals we are supposed to stand for, because that is what our democracy calls us to do.