Norms

So far this semester in sociology has made me realize how odd our norms of society are and how every individual is looked at differently. I thought how it is very unfair that if a boy does something that is against a male norm and is more of a female norm he is automatically criticized and considered gay. But if a female does a norm that is originally for males she is just looked at as athletic. Why is it that our society is so much more judgmental on males than females? It is because males have to live up to being a strong, tall, manly jock and if he is not able to meet that requirement then he is harassed by the other males that were able to. It is not in a males control of how tall he is going to be, it is in his genes. Why should he be punished for something he cannot even control? There have been many stories of young male teens who have committed suicide because of being harassed by males that were able to meet our society norms of a male and they weren't. Someone has CHOSEN to end their life just because of being hurt and harassed. Not only is this seen in males but also females. Females have an expectation to live up to being this skinny, naturally beautiful, perfect skin, and big breasted women. Many women are not informed of all the photoshop and editing that is done to the female models that are plastared on billboards or in magazines. Females our comparing themselves to a body image that doesn't even exist but they are not informed of that. Females have suffered from eating disorders, depression and many other issues due to trying to live up to an image of a body that in nonexistent. Why is it that in our society people have to suffer from issues that aren't always even in their control? Why do we even care so much about what others even look like? Humans come in many different shapes and sizes. I have come to think differently now by that I have become less judgmental of a person and do not create a stereotype of a person just off of what I have seen them do. Also I have been less harsh on myself and other males/females about living up to our society norms of what we should look like because it is completely unreasonable. We shouldn't spend our life trying to meet that expectation. We only live once, and life is short; So why get caught up in what our societies expectations of us?