Abstract: As the impacts of traditional gender roles persist, gender stereotypes continue to guide societal standards for men and women. Current studies suggest that different standards are applied depending on whether a subject is being compared to others of the same gender or to a more general group that includes both the males and females. These differences in standards are described as “shifting standards” in the literature. The present study identified teenagers and young adults in the United states as the target group to research seeing as they have developed an understanding of societal expectations and gender norms. The researcher conducted passage-based survey research that included a variety of likert scale and open-ended questions to identify a possible difference in participants’ perceptions of a male versus female character. The findings revealed a difference in perception that supported the shifting standards model. The female character was perceived more positively as indicated by one section of the survey even though the traits identified for both the male and female characters were highly similar. The researcher was able to conclude that shifting standards are not exclusive to reality, and can be applied to fictional characters as well. However, in opposition with related studies, the shifting standards observed for this particular passage may be more effectively explained by the emergence of the feminism movement rather than through the lens of sexist gender stereotypes.