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.
People of this world are deluded. They're always longing for something - always, in a word, seeking.
Seems to me that the institutions that function in this country are clearly racist, and that they're built upon racism.
America, how can I write a holy litany in your silly mood?
Till swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit, His waxen wings did mount above his reach, And, melting, Heavens conspir'd his overthrow.
Once we are self-aware, we must choose purposes and principles to live by; otherwise the vacuum will be filled, and we will lose our self-awareness and become like groveling animals who live primarily for survival and propagation. People who exist on that level aren't living; they are "being lived".
I went inside my heart to see how it was. Something there makes me hear the whole world weeping.
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