What comes to mind, when you hear the term? Different rules for different gender, you bet. You know when a guy goes out with as many as ten girls at one time, he's given a really good pat on the back by his male buddies and other girls will be looking at him like he's some kind of a stud.

But if a girl does the same thing, people are quite uneasy about it. Heebie-jeebies. Mother of goats, most guys will think it's not 'right' and other girls will start bitching about it.

They'll think she has completely gone crazy or something. Well, even if one girl has gone cuckoo, I sure don't appreciate the same rule applied on all my other sisters (hey soul sister!).

Back in my early twenties -when I was wrinkle-free(boohoohoo)- and my brother was in his late teens, it was alright for him to come back later in the wee hours in the morning, but even as I stayed on curfew, and had taken my time to inform earlier that I was going to be a tiny bit late, well surprise-surprise, I still had to go through the drama of a parent not being able to let go of his mixed feelings.

I was as brave as my brother (I'd like to think so), but unfortunately the fact that I did not have a specific reproductive organ attached in the right place, had me in a situation I completely abhor, but made me in-tune with the existence of double-standard in gender.

It's this whole mentality -protect the girls, let the guys roam free to gain wisdom- that bothers me. I know it's not a unique thing observed in Eastern culture, because I'm sure gals in the West experience it too.

If we want women empowered, I sure don't see the point of having that mindset to begin with. You wonder why women feel like they need to be protected. Before the girl sets out her journey in the world, she's been fed with indirect vibe that the world is ugleeh, men are dangerous, and it's best if she'd just enroll herself straight into a maximum-security asylum.

You don't see guys get that kind of treatment unless he comes from an overbearing crazy-protective family(intentional double standard, sorry).

While it must be tough for our male counterparts too because everybody expects them to pull off that macho-unemotional-stud of a guy persona every single time, they could try at least show some kind of non-conformity by, for example getting some lipsticks and face powder -aha, kidding.

As for the lasses, girls, ladies, grown women, mothers, grandmothers, let's break this cycle of double standardness, by exhibiting don't-mess-with-me independence and wisdom and confidence.

Don't let other people make decisions for you (except in the situation where you've been declared mentally gone, that is), be all you can be and don't let that kind of spirit-drag pull you down.