In a world fighting social norms, breaking stereotypes, and general activism in entire communities, are today’s youth more susceptible to being offended by off-handed jokes than previous generations were?

Social activism from powerful celebrities and athletes have kickstarted campaigns towards the solutions of a variety of social injustices. Everything from police brutality to global warming is being fought by big names worldwide.

Unfortunately, in all these protests, an environment of hostility has been adopted. Calls for gender equality have turned into anti-male rants. Rallies for victims of police brutality have turned to riots against police. As unfortunate as it is, and as hard as it may be to recognize, there are extremists on both sides.

The term “locker room talk” made headlines in 2016 when a tape of then Presidential candidate Donald Trump leaked a conversation between Billy Bush and Trump. I’m sure most of us remember the comments, but for those who don’t, they’re spoken with a tone of male superiority. As inappropriate as these comments are, especially for a Presidential candidate, they’ve been echoed by the other side.

I’m picking my battle; assume those comments were from someone who isn’t now our Commander in Chief, would you confront that person? If you answered yes, would you also confront the person who says “men are pigs”? So while both group a gender together, and both are derogatory, why do we think of them differently?

It’s because as a society we aren’t ready to change what we don’t have to. Like the saying goes, don’t fix what isn’t broken. So do those who don’t get offended deserve to be treated worse? Do the guys won’t protest being called pigs deserve to be profiled anymore than the girls who choose to protest being called hoe’s?

Don’t answer that, because there is no answer. We live in a world that doesn’t follow one rule, there are exceptions to everything. You’re never gonna like everything everyone says, but being offended doesn’t solve anything. Protest as you will, but pick your battles. Protest for what you want, not for what others get.

Think about it, we say double standards as a bad thing, and in some cases it is, but it works both ways. As frowned upon as it is to expect a woman to cook, we still expect men to pick up the tab. If you’re really all for equality, you killed chivalry. The hypocrisy in expecting the guy to text first, open the door, pay for the dinner, yet demanding that he never ask you to adhere to expectations is self-evident. In light of that, is every stereotype bad? Need we protest every double standard? As someone who aspires to be respected, a gentleman if you will, am I offending you by paying for dinner?  Should I expect you to pay?

Older generations often criticize us for being soft, for being too easily offended, which is true. But what made us so? Maybe it’s because as a generation, we’ve never been challenged? Besides the oldest millennials, we were too young to fully understand the consequences of 9/11 like our parents did, too young to experience the bonding that came afterwards. Our grandparents served in wars overseas, something we’re too young to do.

The common thought that we’re all that soft stems from our seemingly endless complaining on social media, our countless protests in the streets. But couldn’t that be bravery? Are we babies for complaining or bold for protesting?

I leave you with this, each coming generation struggles differently than the last. History tends to repeat itself, but we keep finding new ways to fight these battles. So, the next time you feel attacked, don’t take offense; take a stand. Don’t be hurt; don’t be sad; be part of the solution. Don’t be offended if I pick up the check, just get the next one. We may not have fought wars like our grandparents, survived wars like our parents, but we’re 21st century tough and that’s enough.