A lot of students may be familiar with the term “double standards,” but how many of them know what it means? Double standards is defined as a rule or principle that is unfairly applied in different ways to different people or groups.

Double standards apply to every person in some way, shape or form and may appear as a constant battle between the sexes.

Over time, many people have made a conscious effort to reduce the controversy over gender equality, but let’s face it, people still expect different things from men and women.

According to Business Insider, 54 years after the the United States passed the Equal Pay Act, women in the U.S. still face a substantial gender wage gap across the spectrum, with men earning 79 cents more to the dollar than the average woman.

Along with this, people continue to sexuallize women. As a society, Americans turn on the Super Bowl to see their favorite football players in a full uniform with shoulder pads, yet they look to see women in a skimpy outfit objectifying their body on national television.

Again, while the number of relationships one has been in should not matter, double standards are alive and well. In society, men can date whoever they please and are not shamed for doing so. They can even have one night stands and go home and tell their “bros” about it.

Now if a woman were to do this, she would be called a slut. She may also be too ashamed to tell anyone about what happened, fearing that word would go around and that she would be gossiped about.

Dress code regulations at schools are another point to examine in the controversy of Double Standards. Unarguably, women have a much stricter dress code to abide by. Female students can’t even show their shoulders because it might turn heads and distract other students.

Even though both women and men feel pressured to look good in society, studies from the book, “The Fat Studies Reader” shows that women feel more anxious to lose weight.