Who killed chivalry?

          

You hear people say that chivalry is dead all the time. They aren't complaining about the death of armed cavalry (Although the idea of knights on horseback is a cool thought). Instead they are referring to the "knightly" treatment toward women by men. To be a gentlemen who acts with great respect and courtesy to all women in any circumstance. The word moved from meaning a warrior on a horse to referencing the conduct and honor that a knight was vowed to display as a nobel role model in society. Women like the picture of their knight in shining armor continuously treating them like royalty. So the question is why has that behavior become so rare?

The paradigm of normality is fluid. It changes all the time. We cannot simply define these changes as progressive or destructive as the consequences are far reaching and difficult to predict. The most notable changes take ideas to extremes and don't simply alter the main issue. A big one that the world is constantly pushing is equality. This is an important issue with differing opinions about what it means to be "equal". America has gone through revolutions and for the most part looks at women differently than the rest of the world. Women's rights are a good thing but we still take the good with the bad. For example women in the work place want to be looked at the same as their male counterparts. They want to be taken just as seriously winning that type of respect while losing the feminine respect. They swap one treatment for the other. This is why it is hard to draw a line in the sand between what is positive and what is negative.

It isn't about being equally important so much as receiving equal treatment. These definitions of equality are very different. Personally I wouldn't open a car door for a man or stand when some guy entered a room. Socially that isn't normal so when women take on the treatment of men they lose the special treatment reserved for ladies and train men to over look that expectation. It becomes unnecessary and things that were once normal become abnormal or over the top. Holding the door evolves from something that's routine into a pleasant surprise. There are some jerks out there who are naturally inconsiderate no doubt, but most of us deserve some slack. Hopefully the chivalry inside the guys you know isn't dead, just sleeping. If there is anyone who can make a man chivalrous it is a woman. Raise your expectation of what is acceptable behavior from a man and if he is a good man he will rise to the occasion. Don't settle for equal treatment when you are entitled to something better.