The whole idea of the double bind when it comes to gender, first arose in my mind in Women in the Bible, where one of my peers brought up the idea that "no matter what men do, it's never right." I don't really agree with it, but I really don't agree with it because if one is going to empathize with the men in the bible, it is sort of horrific for them to not acknowledge the COMPLETE disregard for essentially all women in the first testament. So when he (how surprising that it was a male who pointed this out), he attempted to have substantial evidence by saying that when a man in the bible tried to "protect" women, he was patronizing women, but if he didn't, he was a horrible human being. I can sort of understand why he might think this, but I think it is of utmost importance to understand that this masculinity double standard idea, is extremely multi faceted and it also, most certainly, applies to women and femininity as well.
A gendered double standard essentially is a smaller box, INSIDE of the gender box. It is almost as though people are not happy until there are the most particular criteria for genders and if people do not acquiesce, they are ostracized. A really good example is from the films from class; for men, it is better to be masculine and 'manly' but if you do that, you are probably violent and angry. If males are more sensitive, then there is also something wrong with them.
For women, there is this awful idea that women are simply inherently feminine until they try and prove themselves otherwise, and even so, women are overly sexualized no matter how they act. It's an awful cyclical paradox that no one can escape.
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