Reviving Chivalry

I’d be lying if I said I never dreamed of marrying a prince from a fairy tale. A charming, handsome young man who treats me like a lady has been a prominent figure in many of my daydreams. When I described my dream guy to my brother, he let out an exasperated sigh. “Sarah,” he said, in his matter-of-fact-big-brother tone, “guys like that don’t exist.”

Excuse me? Did you just say guys like that don’t exist? Chivalry is dead. The tragedy of modern man. Somewhere along the way men forgot how to treat a lady right.

Walking to class on a normal school day, one of the boys (or should I say young men?) opened the door for one of my friends. She replied, “Thank you, but you should go first. We believe in equality.”

Kill me now.

Maybe guys don’t treat ladies right because they know their efforts won’t be appreciated. Maybe women are partly to blame. Chivalry didn’t just die. Chivalry was murdered. Brutally. 

Feminism is about political, economic and social equality of the sexes, not thinking women don’t need men in their lives. I believe in equality, but not to the extent that men are discouraged from being gentlemen. If anything, I encourage men to be gentlemen.

When a man opens a door for you, it is because he cares about you, not because he thinks you’re weak. When you reject the little things they do for you, you are wounding their pride and killing the gentleman in them. There are only a few gentlemen left in the world. In a few decades, they’d be extinct.

Appreciate them.