Gentlemen, Is chivalry dead?

[Dan B]

I'm still a firm believer of it. Fuck any women who has a problem with it.

I really hope you were being ironic...

OT: In my opinion chivalry is the only way equality can exist, women are built differently to men and therefore the sexes will always have different capabilities, I have a larger more powerful body than most women, therefore I will offer them my coat as my larger body will hold heat better, equally if i were to drop my keys somewhere that was too narrow for my hands to reach through I would look to a woman for help as their smaller more agile hands and arms are better suited to the task, chivalry and equality are both just names for the sexes using their physical differences to support one another.

Chivalry and manners may be fading but i would rather be obsolete than degenerate into what in the uk are termed chavs or townies (google them if you dont recognise the term)

P.S. these are just off the top of my head examples.

 

[JaredXE]

If it is, women killed it.

 

[the_bearpelt]

I think that chivalry is dead only when radical feminists think it should be. What I mean is that it's selectively bashed. For example, only men can ever lead ballroom dance, even when outside of competition? Totally considered "sexist." However, the rule that men can't punch women? Oh, that's totally okay.
Personally, I've always found that a bit unfair.

On the other hand, some chivalry is alive. Sort of. In some of the mid-northern American states, people still hold the door open for each other ALL THE TIME. If you don't do it, the general reaction is for that person to think, "Dude, what the hell?" However, on a trip down to Louisiana, I noticed that people don't hold the door open nearly as often. Odd. Especially since I considered the Southerners more friendly than the Northerners. I dunno how much that applies to chivalry, though.


As far as men being stared at for offering their jacket to women when they're cold, I wonder if this is maybe more of a state-by-state thing? Where I live, it isn't considered all that odd. The only time I ever freaked out because a guy friend offered me his jacket was because I was in 5th grade and didn't want people to think I liked him ("ew, cooties" and all that). Or maybe it depends on the woman. I dunno. I don't usually think it's weird.

I think some of the best parts of chivalry are frequently absent, but that the ones that survived are irritating. The whole you-can't-punch-a-girl thing. In my opinion, if someone REALLY deserves a punch in the face, then sex should have no bearing on it whatsoever. In fact, I find more women who need to be punched than men. (*sigh* C'mon, ladies. Grow up. I thought science said we mature faster?)

 

[zehydra]

Chivalry is more than just manners, it's specifically oriented towards one gender, and that kind of social inequality really has no place in a society that highly values gender equality.

You're using an old definition, so that's understandable. But modern-day 'gentlemanly' groups like the Art of Manliness focuses on treating everyone in a gentlemanly fashion (yes I love the word gentlemanly, it's just somehow awesome). Just like everything else, the definition has changed with the times.

Then a discussion on whether or not Chivalry is "dead" is impossible, due to ambiguity. Instead of changing the word's meaning, I wish people would just make new words.

True, humans do love using the same words to mean different things. Hell, I study political science, everything in that field has double or triple meanings. When someone says 'I'm a liberal' I usually say "what kind? Old, new, reform, centralized, non-centralized, socially democratic, left, right, Lockian, Hobbesian, or Millist?" To make things even more confusing, old liberalism is pretty much modern day conservativism. My head hurts.

Still, I assume you use words like awful once and awhile. Awful originally meant to be 'full of awe' and was seen positively, but it changed through time to mean something negative. A lot of the words we use had far different meanings before.

History: Making language fucking confusing for the past ten thousand years.

Very true. But no one still uses 'Awful' in its archaic sense. People still use Chivalry in the sense of helping the female. (You were also very right about all the political labels too. I've come across this problem as well)

 

[Serenegoose]

I certainly hope Chivalry is dying. I'd rather we were just polite for the sake of being polite, regardless of gender. Wouldn't that be better than rationing it out in a way that ultimately ends up coming across as patronising?

 

[illas]

Chivalry is just disguised chauvanism. I hope it dies. You shouldn't be polite to somebody because they're a woman, you should be polite to everybody who's not an asshole because it's the right thing to to do.

Crass: Yes.
Philosophically sound: Yes.

To me, chivalry nowadays translates to casual (often unintentional) acts of kindness. Eg: the typical holding a door open, carrying something heavy, etc. The difference is that nowadays women can hold doors open for men too, without it being considered abnormal.

 

[Dan B]

I'm still a firm believer of it. Fuck any women who has a problem with it.

I really hope you were being ironic...

Nope, I'm being serious. I have no time for a women who HAS PROBLEMS WITH BEING TREATED WELL!

Well you cant be serious on both counts, you either believe in chivalry or you can swear at hypothetical women, you can't do both by the definition of chivalry.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Well I do say! No, not at all. Its obviously not quite as forefront as it has been in previous generations, but the art of being a gentlemen is surely not quite so vanquished in our modern age of motor cars and adding machines.

*sips tea*

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

I still rescue fair maidens from possessive dragons with a kidnapping contest, all while donned in plate mail armor. So no, it's not dead for me.

 

[Axolotl]

Reading this thread I really have to ask: Do any of you even fucking know what Chivalry means?

Because I can give you a clue, it isn't about whether you hold a door open for some woman.

Chivalry:The qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women.

thats what I found when I looked up the words definition, and my microsoft thesaurus seems to back up the definition.

Or am I mistaked?

Pretty much yeah. Chivalry is the knights idealised image. It's about keeping the poor man powerless and the rich man unquestionable. It's about killing Muslims and keeping Jews in ghettos. It was nothing more than social conditioning to allow for the brutal enforcement of the feudal class system.

 

[kannibus]

Of course chivalry is dead. Women killed it.

 

[Zirat]

I do my best to treat everyone with respect, female or not. If they drop something, I pick it up. If they are coming my way, I hold the door for them. While I have indeed been chewed out by die hard feminists saying, I am a chauvinist pig for my actions and that I am repressing them, I try to shrug it off as best as I can.

While far from a Gentleman, I am indeed chivalrous.

 

[Leemaster777]

I dont think so. Chivalry is manners really, so as long as though exist, its not really dead. I always just say what my friend Jake says, since he saw I'm one of the few people left who actually is chivalrous.

"Chivalry isn't dead. Its just in a coma, with a tumor, and severe brain hemorraging"

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say, except I was going to say:

"Chivalry isn't dead, it's just on life-support with a crowbar embedded in it's skull."

 

[Shock and Awe]

Reading this thread I really have to ask: Do any of you even fucking know what Chivalry means?

Because I can give you a clue, it isn't about whether you hold a door open for some woman.

Chivalry:The qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women.

thats what I found when I looked up the words definition, and my microsoft thesaurus seems to back up the definition.

Or am I mistaked?

Pretty much yeah. Chivalry is the knights idealised image. It's about keeping the poor man powerless and the rich man unquestionable. It's about killing Muslims and keeping Jews in ghettos. It was nothing more than social conditioning to allow for the brutal enforcement of the feudal class system.

That may be what it meant when the idea of chivalry was first propagated, but it is not the contemporary definition of the word. It now means just what the definition says, bravery, courtesy, ect. Just like crusade now means a struggle of good instead of a war of the cross.

 

[Ekonk]

No. it's not dead.

IT IS A ZOMBIE

Best of both worlds: zombies and chivalry. "Excuse me dear madam, it would seem a zed head is clawing at your front door. Allow me to dispose of it."

 

[Peteron]

Well technically it doesn't have a heart so it was never really alive.

 

[WilliamRLBaker]

yep its dead, and good riddance as has been mentioned traditional chivalry was monstrous as well women killed it by the way.

 

[thylasos]

I tend to just be polite to everyone, and I've never noticed the whole "What're you doing that for? I can do it myself!" thing.

I am a devoted chappist, though. Moustache wax is in the post.

 

[TheSkaAssassin]

My sociology professor said that I should "leave chivalry for dates" and out of the workplace.
God forbid I treat a lady nice.
Yep, chivalry is dead and feminism killed it.

 

[HotKakes]

Well, to quote Dave Chappell "Yes, chivalry is dead. And women killed it."