New social media apps contribute to gender inequality

New media apps has drastically changed how we interact and view each other. It has set standards for how we view the opposite sex and has greatly distorted what is expected in romantic relationships.

Specifically, I’m talking about apps like Fade and Yik Yak. On a daily basis, one will find a feed of jokes from the Internet, pictures of a typical Saturday night at the bars or, oh yeah, nude pictures of fellow students from the University of South Dakota.

Fade is an app in which its users can post pictures — usually funny images — and Yik Yak allows one to post statuses. Each app lets its users to post anonymously. While these apps were supposed to be used for good, lighthearted fun, it has become a way to shame and bully those exercising their right of freedom of expression, especially women.

It starts off with the mixed messages users of these sites exhibit.  Every week one can find a post asking for women to post a nude photo or asking a woman to “come cuddle and watch a movie.” I’ve noticed that when women respond to these proposals, they get shamed for it.

I for one do not see the need to post these types of pictures and wouldn’t do it, but others do, and as much as some may disagree with this, it is the woman’s choice. The same goes with responding to hanging out. I’m not sure if it’s the automatic stigma that “cuddle and watch a movie” means “sex with a movie on” but nonetheless, women are shamed for responding to these offers.

Additionally, when a woman asks to hang out on these apps she is automatically labeled “slutty.” This automatic and baseless stereotype needs to stop.

Social media is also creating a double standard in romantic relationships. If men were to post pictures of themselves with their shirts off they would get admired, and if they did a full-on nude photo, it would either be funny or, again, admired.

But yet, if a woman does either of those two things, she is taken as someone who does not have any respect for herself and is simply trying too hard to get attention.

In turn, this leads to high expectations men have for women they want relationships with. Depending on the guy, he might want an overly sexualized woman, not a prude. Or, he might want a “good girl” — one who wouldn’t dare show her body to anyone but him.

Whatever a woman’s motive is for displaying her body, it is simply freedom of expression. Women should be held to the same standard as men.

If you disagree with women posting provocative pictures, don’t laugh at the men who do it. If you admire or lust after a man for having his shirt off, then don’t call a girl a “slut” for doing the same.

Take a step back from your personal opinion on the act of posting such pictures, and look at the bigger picture here. If our generation is fighting for gender equality, it must go hand-in-hand with respect for personal choice, even if it isn’t the same as yours would be.