Double Standard..

Why is it that women can dance with women, but men can't dance with men? I was wondering this the other day in St. Petersburg, Russia of all places. The subject of double standards has been the hot topic of conversation since a not very recent movie was playing on the crew channel these past cruises. It's "Lost and Delirious" with Jessica Pare and Piper Perabo. It portrays the struggle of teenage angst while the girls attend an all girls prep school. The girls fall in love with each other, but then Jessica Pare's character (Tory) decides it's not really what she wants and the other girl played by Piper (Paulie) becomes obsessed with her. There's full nudity and sex scenes between the two love-struck girls. Yet when "Brokeback Mountain" came out last year it was the news of the country. It had press a full year before it came out! It was and still is considered "controversial" and a radical step toward gay love stories in film. There wasn't really any nudity at all and the sex scenes were mild in comparison to the ones in "Lost and Delirious" and still "Brokeback Mountain" got an R rating for adult situations. Why is it okay for lesbian love, but not okay for two men in love? Is it too traumatic? Why are men so threatened by the idea of falling in love with each other? Not a whisper was heard when the other movie came out in 2000. In fact I just read somewhere that Roger Ebert praised the movie. I don't really remember the movie at all come to think of it. It was just like every other forgettable movie that came out that year. Of course I was on a cruise line as well in that year and dealing with my own struggles. Maybe if men explored more of their feminine sides instead of being threatened by them, the other struggles in the world won't be so hard core. Back to the dancing. I was having a lovely time dancing with our girls and the girls were dancing with each other. Even growing up I remember women being able to dance with each other, but it was considered a joke if men danced with each other. One of our guys while at the club in St. Petersburg thought it might not be a good idea to dance with each other even though it was in the "gay" part of the club with male dancers strutting around on the upper level. Last time I was there, no one seemed to mind and guys dancing with each other were applauded. Most of Europe seems to be carefree like that. However it sparked a thought about our good ole Quaker founded US of A. Southern Baptists, Mormons of the Northwest, the heart and soul of our midwest states forever stuck in the 50s ideal, and for those not fitting in those groups but still following our beloved gay-hating president Bush the Horrible. It's how we as Americans are raised and for even those of us in the most acceptable families, the media still crams most of this garbage down our throats about how men should be men. Even women in office and women of the US have adopted this role model. So instead of accepting a feminine thought, look, or ideal, they'd rather hype up their masculine sides and become the rigid and closed minded individuals these people are. I know there are other parts of the world where such practices aren't accepted. Europe has just been so relaxed, so happy, and so cultured. They have art, music, theatre, books, and all sorts of mind stimulating things that are being taken out of our school programs in the US. Things that open up our minds are being stripped from our schools to make our education programs weak in comparison. The US population is threatened by new ideas. Why men can't dance with men is only the tip of the iceberg that's sinking our country into the ignorance, hatred, and rigid ideals that the enemies we're fighting against have in their country. I simply think if we just lived our lives a little less rigid, accepted both the masculine AND feminine sides of or personas, minded our own business instead of being threatened by the way other people live their lives, and agree to disagree more instead of forcing our ideals on one another then our minds will be open and we'll be happier as a group of people. Until then we'll be insecure, hateful, spiteful, and stubborn. A straight path leading to ignorance and fear.