A man is called a good fellow for doing things which, if done by a woman, would land her in a lunatic asylum.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the gender double standards in society regarding behavior and mental health.
H. L. Mencken's quote underscores the societal expectations and double standards placed on men and women. It suggests that actions commonly accepted in men might be harshly judged in women, reflecting how societal norms can lead to the stigmatization of women's behavior. The use of 'lunatic asylum' illustrates the extreme consequences faced by women challenging these norms, thus calling attention to the prejudices that persist in the evaluation of gendered behavior.
In practice
In a discussion about gender roles, this quote can illustrate the inequalities in social judgment.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
Judo should be free as art and science from any external influences, political, national, racial, and financial or any other organized interest. And all things connected with it should be directed to its ultimate object, the benefit of Humanity.
The unspeakable visions of the individual.
The present flowed by them like a stream. The tree rustled. It had made music before they were born, and would continue after their deaths, but its song was of the moment. The moment had passed. The tree rustled again. Their senses were sharpened, and they seemed to apprehend life. Life passed. The tree rustled again.
The power which a multiple millionaire, who may be my neighbor and perhaps my employer, has over me is very much less than that which the smallest "functionaire" possesses who wields the coercive power of the state, and on whose desecration it depends whether and how I am allowed to live or to work.
Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.
The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.