Stephen Crane, the author of “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets,” was born and raised in the 19th century. He was a nature writer and often visited the New York Bowery. These visits inspired “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” (“Stephen Crane” 1). Naturalist writings emphasized heredity and environment as important forces that shaped the destinies of individual characters. These characters are often presented in particular and detailed circumstances, where life turns out to be ironic, even tragic. Stephen Crane used themes considered forbidden by others. Some of these themes are extreme poverty, terrible conditions, murder, rape, and lack of a happy ending. “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets” is a short story about a girl Maggie, who grew up in poverty and whose destiny was shaped by sexual double standards. The sexual double standard occurs when men and women are evaluated differently for their engagement in sexual activity (Marks 84). In Stephen Crane's short story, "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets," the sexual double standard is evident through social norms and expectations, the emergence of the sexual revolution, and the permissiveness of sexually active men. Society plays an important role in determining perspectives towards sexually active people. In society, whether a woman was empowered or not, impressions were always formed about her because she did not follow the status quo. The norm was that women should be holy, innocent, and submissive, while men were expected to live by different standards. In the book Give Me Liberty, author Eric Foner reports: “For both sexes, freedom meant realizing their respective “innate” qualities. Men were rational, aggressive and domineering, while women were caring, altruistic, ruled by emotions and therefore less adapted...... middle of paper ...... Second series. Auburn: Miller, Orton and Mulligan, 1854. 117-20. Print.Foner, Eric. Give me freedom! : An American story. 3rd ed. Flight. 1. New York: WW Norton, 2012. Print. Grimké, Sarah Moore and Elizabeth Ann. Bartlett. “Letters I – II.” Letters on gender equality; and other tests. New Haven: Connecticut, 1988. 1-13. Print.Hall, Lesley. “Breaking Down the Double Standard: Feminism, Social Purity, and Sexual Science in Late 19th-Century Britain.” Gender and History 16.1 (2004): 36-56. Academic research completed. Internet. March 31, 2014. Marks, Michael J. “Ratings of Sexually Active Men and Women Under Divided Attention: A Social and Cognitive Approach to the Sexual Double Standard.” Basic and Applied Social Psychology 30.1 (2008): 84-91. Academic research completed. Internet. March 31, 2014. “Stephen Crane.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, nd Web. March 31. 2014.