Stop double standard on women

Regarding Elliot Levy’s Tuesday column, “Women should take the bad with the good of deserved equality.”

Don’t consider this a letter from an “aspiring feminist,” Mr. Levy. Consider this a letter from a genuine feminist who has long since embraced the label and all the attendant stigma it brings. You might like to know that being able to declare yourself free of male chauvinism requires more than championing equal rights for all. It requires an absence of the kind of patronizing, condescending attitude that wonders if a woman can ever truly overcome her incapacitating emotions and display some kind of competence. Don’t be so quick, Mr. Levy, to applaud yourself for your oh-so-enlightened outlook — to doubt a woman’s ability to do her job without emotional interference is the very height of male chauvinism.

If Mr. Levy and his friends were caught breaking the law by a so-inclined member of the Boston University Police Department who happened to let them go with a warning, I doubt they would demand that the officer, and I quote, “pull out the handcuffs immediately.” Nobody would, male or female. It’s not true that women refuse to accept the responsibilities of equal rights. The fact is, people like Mr. Levy expect more from women. A woman has to work twice as hard as a man to be recognized for doing the same job, because people like Mr. Levy will always doubt her competence.

Similarly, he expects female students to demand to be arrested, because it is apparently their responsibility to uphold the reputation of our entire gender. Why not blame the officer for letting his groin win out over his job description? Why blame the women merely for catching his eye? This is just another symptom of the “blame the victim” mentality, not as obviously harmful but no less insidious. The police officer is absolved. The women are expected to demand penalties, to essentially do his job for him, because they are apparently required to make up for being female. The next time Mr. Levy is let off with a warning for some infraction or other, I fully expect him to demand punishment. Then we can talk. Until then, I have two words for him: Shut Up.

Nobody is more disgusted than I when I see women using their so-called wiles to manipulate men. Why? Because women don’t benefit from it. It cements our reputation as feeble, incompetent creatures who need men to take care of us — by, say, opening doors for us, or offering us seats on the T, or not letting us have jobs with any kind of responsibility in which we would ultimately fail. However, the fact remains that these tactics would not work if men didn’t fall for them. There’s enough responsibility to go around; why don’t we share?

I hold doors open for my male friends on those occasions when I happen to reach the door first. Clearly men as a gender have unfairly manipulated me into considering them lowly, inferior beings; they need to accept their responsibilities and open their own damn doors. Mr. Levy, I hold you accountable.