The Double Standard in Society

“Raise and discuss a question about the text under consideration”

What creates the “double standard?”

The so-called “double standard” is an ironic situation that affects both sexes and all ages. In society it can be seen through the different views of promiscuity for males and females. Females often are seen in a negative way as an array of words can describe their actions. However, males are praised for their actions and “game.” This problem does not originate from the society we live in. In the South American society that Gabriel Garcia Marquez describes, this double standard is even stronger. Angela Vicario was seen as a dishonored young woman after loosing her virginity before marriage. In her societal class, this was seen as extremely inappropriate and wrong. Bayardo San Roman, her husband that denied her after he found her “impurity,” proves that even the most sacred bond of marriage cannot look past a woman’s history. Her brothers then set out to kill Santiago Nasar in order to reclaim the family honor.

Whether Santiago truly committed this offense is unknown, but the readers do see first hand his sex life with prostitutes and people of lower class. His lack of respect for a woman’s purity can be seen through his sexual advances toward the cook’s daughter, Divina Flor. Santiago’s own promiscuity is not what led to his demise, but it was his being accused of sexually tempting a girl out of her virginity. Therefore, society did not punish his promiscuity as they did Angela’s. She faced society looking down on her, disappointment and abuse from her mother, and loosing her husband.

It is interesting to see how this older South American society is a more intense, but similar version of our society. This double standard is a double-edged sword for women of this time and today. Many women in both societies simply cannot afford and are not expected to maintain their virginity, and are therefore automatically thrown into a category that includes prostitutes and “hoes.” We see this in “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” through the main classes of women: Angela’s upper class, Divina’s working class, and Maria Alejandrina Carvantes’ group working as prostitutes. There are different things that are acceptable for each group, but the things that each woman chooses to do define her place in society.

The men in this town are encouraged to be sexually experienced by the age of about 16 or 17 through prostitutes or lower class women. This expectation for men defines their normalcy. Santiago’s last morning alive started with a prostitute he slept with the night before. Society did not see this as a problem at all, the real problem was that he seduced an upper class, younger girl. Angela’s brothers wish to cleanse their name and purify their reputation by seeking revenge on Santiago. In this type of society, it is imperative that the brother’s defend their sister.

In Marquez’s society and modern society, the double standard leads to judgment, rumors, expectations, and pressure. This book offers some insight to possibly where this idea came from and why society views promiscuity in certain ways. It also shows that these concepts are by no means new and have plagued society for many decades (540).