"Can't Hold Us Down"

"If you look back in history it's a common double standard of society. The guy gets all the glory, the more he can score, while the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore"- Christina Aguilera
                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqlfPomWY80&has_verified=1

              Gaining popularity in 2003, Aguilera's "Can't Hold Us Down" made numerous top 100 lists while sending a powerful message to the televisions of millions of teenagers across the nation. I, as well as what I'm sure is a good majority, regard this song as a vital piece in the women's movement of gaining equal rights. Wait a minute...women don't have equal rights? But we have all the same jobs! And we can vote too! Sadly, these things are not anywhere near enough to be equal to men. Just because we can technically do all the same things as men doesn't mean we are equal to them. Women have made incredible progress, but have a long ways to go before they change the minds of a good chunk of people in this world. As mentioned in my post about Leslie McIntyre's quote, many society's around the world still view women as the sub-sex or second in importance behind men.
             Generation after generation of people maintain the view that women belong in the home and should not be given the same opportunities as men because they're not equipped to handle them. Women cannot do all the same things as men and this is blatant as Aguilera sings about the huge elephant in the room: the double standard between men and women. She mentions the fact that a man can get woman after woman and that makes him strong, masculine, and viewed as attractive, whereas, a woman getting man after man is simply disgusting and it makes the girl a "whore", or a piece of dirt in society's eyes.
            In A Doll's House, Nora does not necessarily struggle with society saying it's wrong to sleep around for a girl, but instead that it's wrong to borrow money without a male figure's knowledge and consent. Because of this unjust law that degrades women, much like what Aguilera sings about, Nora is forced to live a life of dishonesty and struggle with the guilt she maintains from not being able to talk to her husband about the money she borrowed. She lives in fear that her husband will leave her and it's all because men of this time period can't deal with the fact that women have circumstances under which it's necessary that they're able to borrow money. Nora was simply trying to help Torvald and because of sexist laws and views she is forced to do so at her own risk with the burdens and troubles that come along with her selflessness.