Double Jeopardy with Double Standards

The greatest teaching tool teachers at Oxford have found is the use of games, such as jeopardy and other games which pit students against each other. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone after all. (Except that one time in Spanish where the class almost rioted due to the teacher unfairly dividing the class with Andrew Raffa, Julie Mason, and Laci Facer all on the same team.  Lesson well learned.) But in Mythology the other day, Mr Long divided the class up Boys vs. Girls.  It was intense, people writing down answers seconds after the question was asked.  As the girls got into the lead, Mr. Long commented how well the boys were doing, they were only down 600 points.  Much better than most of his classes.  after the boys caught up, I felt this great inadequacy rise into my heart.  Why was the lead so small?  Why weren't we doing any better?  But then my sarcastic little voice in my head caught up to me.  What did I suspect?  The guys weren't stupid, they deserved a little recognition for their hard work in studying.  Yet I was still disappointed when the girls won only by 100 points.  This brought out the voice in my head again.  What was I so upset about?  I should have been glad that we won.  This began the thought about how far women have gone since recorded history.  Girls are now expected to be smarter then boys, yet we are still considered the "weaker" sex. This double standard has caused mass confusion in both men and women.  We have new standards, but have yet to relinquish the old. Even now, in this day in age men do there best to protect women in anyway they can.  This maddening act drives women to great lengths in order to prove their independence, that they have minds of their own and can choose to do something for themselves.  How many times has a telemarketer called and was turned away by the answer "I have to check with my husband"? Yes, telemarketers are annoying but they are also persistent.  That answer should not suffice a ravenous telemarketer. In The Yellow Wallpaper , the narrator shows us the affects of an intelligent mind wasting away due to an overprotective husband.  She slowly drifted into insanity due to not being able to do anything.  She was forced to sit in a room for the entire day with nothing to do other than wallow in her slowly decaying mind.  I believe that if the narrator was not able to write when she did, she would descended into madness earlier.  It didn't matter to her husband that her imagination was killing her sanity, as long as he "protected" her from the dangers in the world, she would be safe.  I see no reason that an intelligent girl can't "protect" herself.  I am a 4'11",110 pound girl and I always volunteer to do the heavy labor whether carrying heavy boxes or 12' beams.  The guys are always astounded when I easily match the number of things they are carrying and it always makes me laugh due to the faces they make.  They only know me as a quite smart girl so when they see that yes I have built houses, decks, helped put in plumbing, and have inspired fear in the eyes of a 6' 6" man, it amazes them to no end.  Yet I know that by next week they will have forgotten all about this and still insist that they carry the heavy things, that they handle the power tools. It's okay because I know that I will get to see them react again, and get to beat them in academics due to the standards.  I feel guilty when I fall into that mindset, because the times are changing and if the "academic" standard continues, the men will end up with near nothing except the ability to be bodyguards.