One issue that has discreetly increased over time across the world is the inequality of men and women. There is always a typical standard that is expected from both sides of sexuality, but we are all one type of being; humans. In each individual’s mind lies a completely different way of thinking but we’ve let the social norms get the better of this variety of thought. The minds no longer have the freedom to think in their own modes of thought, but simply are set on a mainstream default. Women are expected to enjoy shopping, changing their hair color, and to look like the perfectly slim image we see all over our sources of news. Men are expected to be the average family’s source of income, be able to fix the broken household appliances, and have a general passion for watching the NBA playoffs. However, each gender can think as they please. No matter what society may suspect, we all have the choice to express ourselves and build our lives around who we wish to be.

If our nation began to think this way, I believe we could live more successfully. Individuals intellectual ideas could be put together to create a nation of brilliance. To reach this equilibrium, however, our minds must overcome their default setting and come to know what using our brains in the same manner truly means. Although men may have more structural strength than women, all human minds have the same capability. Women such as Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton represent the will our nation’s women truly have as they helped pass the 19th Amendment with their conventions for women’s rights (recounted in the 19th Amendment article on History.com). Men like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison show the same mental independence in their ideas and creations as discussed in the “Self-made Men” articles on artofmanliness.com. This historical evidence in itself shows how our nation once used its intellectual minds and only proves that our American men and women have the means to rekindle this mode of success.

Even with all of these facts and reasonable pleas to fight against society, however, there will always be those of our kind who act like the social stereotype because that’s simply their persona. These individuals are not trying to please our society’s onlookers, but are simply being their own persons: which in turn puts a stereotype in motion. Our nation sees a new trend in a small group and then begins to follow it with the common result of a fad. This cycle can be amusing, but it is where we have lost our individualistic qualities. The next generation of adults will not know how to use their intelligence if this ‘black hole’ of a cycle continues. Our brains are being controlled by the lives of stereotypical men, women, and teens. Professor Michael Inzlicht speaks in an interview on USnews.com on the effects of stereotypes.  “Past studies have shown that people perform poorly in situations where they feel they are being stereotyped,” says the professor of psychology. I believe that this statement referring to Inzlicht’s research explains the American brain’s downfall and how we should approach changing it.

Another factor American’s should understand is that we are all flawed humans. Comparing ourselves to one another and the images we see on TV gets us nowhere but deeper in to the stereotypical ‘black hole’. This process of beating ourselves down has produced a nationwide increase of anorexia, self-harm, depression, and even suicide. According to healtheveryday.com, recent studies have shown a significant increase in depression in the past fifty years which has slowly increased the rate of suicide and self-harm. Due to the inequality of photo shop and real women, anorexia has become more common in girls aged 15-19 in each decade since 1930 (nationaleatingdisorders.org). Not only does anorexia affect females, but males as well. The images in magazines and the makeup cached faces we see walking in the public streets have no true  beauty, however, because they are not analyzing life for themselves. These people are only trying to create their own mirage that is socially accepted. What these people don’t understand is that what’s beautiful is the human mind and heart’s ideas.

By applying these factual thoughts, our nation could see the discreet increase in inequality of men, women, and individualistic qualities in general become an eventual increase. Americans must become aware of what we are potentially doing to our minds and practice their own beliefs. We need to regain the confidence that the unfair social normality has taken away from us. Depression, self-harm, anorexia, and suicide are merely side-affects of the attributes the world expects us to obtain. Fortunately, as the women and men of our nation, we have the right to face our pressures and become the doctors, engineers, inventors, and philosophers we wish to become. So go ahead and be brave enough to stand up for your intelligence; your world awaits you.