A woman is someone who is a female adult and is typically seen as someone who takes care of kids or does housework chores. Nonetheless, Taylor’s song, “The Man” in her album Lover, talks about the double standards for women and men. This can be seen in her song when she sang, “If I was out flashing my dollars I’d be a b**** not a baller.” I found this line enticing because there are certain things that a man can do but a woman can’t, otherwise, the woman would be seen as being offensive or misbehaving. 

On top of that, the reading, “Honor of Killings”, talked about how men were able to do certain things that women could never do otherwise they would be punished. In this case, men were able to have mistresses receiving no punishment. It was quite the opposite for women, if they had committed adultery the punishment would be very severe. In Rome, they were punishable by death, while their family members were prosecuted and all their property taken away. However, in Mesopotamia, woman adulterers were to be tied up and thrown into a river. In India, they would be thrown to the dogs to be eaten alive and in Germany, adultereses were to be flogged or buried alive. Also, according to the reading, men would use the word, “honor” and place it upon a woman’s shoulder to be able to bear children, unable to speak their mind, and were supposed to be a housewife. Thus, by making women responsible for this “honor” men would be able to control women easier. 

Furthermore, women were seen as a decoration just like a photobooth. Men would view women as an ornament and declare them as not useful since they are unable to do muscular work and do not have very intellectual abilities. However, at that time, women were unable to learn how to educate themselves such as reading and writing. They were often tasked with doing household chores such as cleaning, cooking, and caring for children. While the men did labor work to provide for the family. Just like the photobooth, although it may have had its uses for a certain amount of time, women were deemed as replaceable. If a woman denied their husband’s order, they could be killed whilst the man would receive no punishment at all. 

Additionally, in the Shakespearean tale, “Othello,” Act V Scene II, Othello says, “For naught I did hate, but all in honor.” Meaning, that Othello knows that he killed his wife, Desdemona, out of hatred and he did that out of honor because he believed that she was cheating on him with Othello’s co-worker, Cassio. I found this ironic because Othello wholeheartedly believed in Iago’s lies without even talking about them with her. Whenever Desdemona tries talking about what is making Othello so upset he shrugs her off and proceeds to yell at her. This shows how women were unable to speak up for themselves and were looked down upon. 

All in all, women today still face double standards between women and men. Women were unable to have a say in anything, were deemed replaceable, looked at as an ornament, and faced social injustices. Nonetheless, women have now been able to step up for themselves through songs and different types of art mediums.