Double standard
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A double standard is an instance in which certain applications (often of a word or phrase) are perceived as acceptable to be used by one group of people, but are (unjustifiably) considered unacceptable—taboo—when used by another group. Often, for example, it is seen as socially acceptable for a member of a cultural group to jokingly call members of the same group by an ethnically derogatory name; however, anyone outside this ethnic group is viewed as intolerant or discriminatory when he/she calls a member of the group by that same derogatory name.
A double standard, thus, can be described as a sort of biased, morally unfair suspension (toward a certain group) of the principle that all are equal in their freedoms. Such double standards are seen as unjustified because they violate a basic maxim of modern legal jurisprudence: that all parties should stand equal before the law. Double standards also violate the principle of justice known as impartiality, which is based on the assumption that the same standards should be applied to all people, without regard to subjective bias or favoritism based on social class, rank, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or other distinction. A double standard violates this principle by holding different people accountable according to different standards. The proverb "life is not fair" is often invoked in order to mollify concerns over double standards.
There is a distinction to be made between double standards and hypocrisy, which implies the stated or presumed acceptance of a single standard a person claims to hold himself or herself accountable to, but which, in practice, may be disregarded.
[edit] Examples
- A man who believes it is his right to have extramarital affairs, but that his wife does not have such a right holds a double standard. (A man who publicly condemns extramarital affairs while maintaining his mistress is a hypocrite.)
- A black man playfully calling his friend "nigga" while believing that such a word is cruel and racist when used by his white neighbor, is holding a double standard. This is an especially debated double standard regarding racial issues, largely in the United States.
- An infantry soldier who justifies her deadly line of work as bravely protecting her country, but who otherwise believes that all killing is a terrible crime, it could be argued, is the holder of a double standard. (However, if she is following the rules of the Geneva Convention, she is perfectly within the law, regardless.)
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