In my history class today, we were discussing women's rights and equality. During the discussion, one kid asked, "Why should women still expect chivalry from men when they wanted and got their equality?" This, of course, led to some debate and annoyance. So, I thought this would be an interesting topic to pose on ATRL. What do you think of the above question? And please, let's try to act civil and mature, no matter what your point of view is.

"Gautier tries to give a "popular summary" of what he proposes was the "ancient code of chivalry" of the 11th and 12th centuries, viz. the military ethos of the crusades which would evolve into the late medieval notion of chivalry. Gautier's "commandments" are:

Believe the Church's teachings and observe all the Church's directions.
Defend the Church.
Respect and defend all weaknesses.
Love your country.
Show no mercy to the Infidel. Do not hesitate to make war with them.
Perform all your feudal duties as long as they do not conflict with the laws of God.
Never lie or go back on one's word.
Be generous to everyone.
Always and everywhere be right and good against evil and injustice"


Chivalry wuuut...

These two ideas are kinda opposing one another. It's unreasonable to demand both.

Modern idea of chivalry as in a man holds the door for women, he pays for their dinner out, etc...

Oh, so politeness I'm still learning English.


I guess so? I don't see what's wrong with being polite.

I, as a woman, am not expecting chivalry - I'm expecting mutual respect and kindness. Chivalry is based on being fake to achieve something - when exactly has this been a good thing?
If a guy is being straight up rude and then complains about women expecting too much then I'm sorry, but someone's got problems. I understand that there are some of us that, under the pretences of feminism, want the guys to be their slaves but they're a minority (and usually they're trashy).

As a man, I was raised that the bolded is chivalry, especially more so when shown towards women. It's a counteract to avoid men being douchy as they would with their male friends. Honesty was another one too. Many men avoid it.

Chivalry is a word used by losers who only want something back for their good manners.

Structural socio-cultural equality between women and men and individual courtesy and respect are not mutually exclusive.

Chivalry isn't just politeness though, it's putting the woman on a pedestal simply because she's a woman. It's really outdated to me, but whatever floats your boat. The idea of it sounds really patronizing, but I'm not a woman so I can't really know.