Bias and Double Standards

Ok, I know this one is going to ruffle some feathers, but it has be done.  I welcome all comments but no hateful remarks.

I see double standards everyday as a breastfeeding mom, as a woman, as a Native American, as an Irish woman, as a Catholic, as a single mom, as a seemingly white American, as a Semi-Conservative, and the list goes on and on and on.  Now I am going to touch on a few that affect me and some that do not, but I think they are all important because we are all people and we all deserve to be granted the same platform to show our skills and the same standards as everyone else.

The one that REALLY bothers me, and even bothered me as a child, is the double standard applied to breastfeeding mothers.  You see every day on the TV women half-dressed.  Some of the “role-models” of the world today think nothing of showing almost every curve God gave us.  I am not even talking about Miley Cyrus and her recent escapade, because even her supporters are freaked out by the nakedness.  I am just talking about fashion of today.  I mean look at what the Kardashians wear some of the time.  Or lets go back to when I was younger and look at Madonna.  It is socially acceptable for women to go out dressed in little bitty outfits (now I know I am guilty of it too, I am not saying dressing that is wrong) and no one asks them to go home and put on more clothes.  Now lets take a woman feeding her baby in a mall, everyone in an uproar.  OMG The baby might move and someone might accidentally see a nipple!!!!  Seriously? With all the other stuff in the world you should be worried about and taking issue with, and this is something that you are going to go to bat for? The woman is feeding her child, her body actually MAKES food for the baby.  The boob was not put on the body to attract a man, but to feed a baby.

Now lets go to the female/male double standard. This list could go for ever and ever.  A man is a “real man,” when he sleeps with a lot of women, a woman is a hoe, a slut, or worse if she does the same thing.  Two women making out is sooo sexy, two men is eeeewww gross.  A woman who does a “man’s” job is just trying to take jobs away from men, or she isn’t going to get paid as much as a man.  A woman can wear make up or not wear it, but Lord forbid if a man wants to cover circles under their eyes.  Like I said the list goes on and on, but what brought this to my attention today was a Victoria Secrets commercial and and a Secret deodorant commercial.  Why don’t we get to see sexy men dressed only in their drawers walking and looking seductive?  Because it would make most of America uncomfortable that is why.  Because it is “OK” for a woman to be sexualized but never a man.  And then the whole thing with Secret, is their motto its always bothered me “Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman?” Again this is a ARE YOU EFFING SERIOUS? What man is strong enough to carry a child, birth a child, and still do everything a man can do?  I am sure one day scientists will be able to make a man carry a baby, and when that day comes then I can hey man you are effing awesome!!!!  But until then Secret we are just a strong as they are and yes most women sweat just as much men, we just worry more about stinking.

Here is the one that is gonna piss EVERYONE off.  Race and Obama.  When Bush was President people poked fun at him and even in some cases (such as his many troubles with the teleprompters) were down right mean about it, but no one ever told the person with joke that they were being racist.  Even if that person wasn’t white.  Now if you are involved with the circus that is fame, of any sort, you are opening yourself and all your flaws up to criticism and jokes.  Even if you are getting poked fun at for something you cannot help, as in Bush’s case, his dyslexia.  Yes that is why he had trouble with reading a speech off of a teleprompter or notes.  Now if you poke fun at Obama or even disagree with something he says or does you run a very high risk of being called racist.  One of my close friends is very conservative and also very much an African American, and he posted a silly joke about Obama and was told by many people, both white and black, that he was just racist and that he should bleach his skin white to match his KKK insides.  So why is it that you can make fun a white president, but you cannot make fun of a black one?  I can see calling someone a racist if they made a racist joke but for the most part this is not the case.  So can someone please explain to me when we became so politically correct that everyone is scared to crack a joke at a politician, based solely on the color of his skin?

Now to another subject that is a little touchy.  Race in general.  I look REALLY white, but I am not.  I am Mescalero Apache, Crow, and Irish.  I am actually half Native.  Pretty shocking in a redhead let me tell you.  My dad is 75% Irish and 25% Mescalero Apache and my mother is 75% Mescalero Apache and Crow and 25% Irish.  That makes me half, but obviously I ended up with many more Irish characteristics than Native.  Affirmative Action was useful back when, but in today’s society I don’t believe we need it.  If a white man is slightly more qualified than a black man, than a woman, than a Hispanic man, an Asian man, and so on and so forth, he should be hired or get into that school.  Personally I think that if we did all interviews over the phone or with a screen or on the computer where the person doing the interview would have NO IDEA what the other person looked like the world would be a whole lot more balanced.  When I applied to colleges I did apply to Harvard and was accepted.  I was number 58 in my class out of 249, I found out later before I decided which school to go to that my friend who was in the top ten didn’t get accepted to Harvard.  His WHOLE school career was way more balanced than mine and he made better grades and tested better than I did, yet I got in because I have my tribe card and therefore am a double minority for the school (Native and female) and he was just a white male.  I know people who in the late 90’s didn’t get jobs because the other applicant was a minority.  THERE IS NO MINORITY IF WE ALL CLAIM HUMAN!!!! This is something I wish the rest of the world would understand.

This is the end of my little rant, I could go on and on about bias and double standards. Just be glad I didn’t get started on the bias in LGBT community I could go on that rant for days.  Again thanks for reading and any comments are welcome as long as they aren’t hateful or hurtful. ❤