KimmyCharmeleon
Well-Known Member
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChivalryChivalry[1] is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. It is usually associated with ideals of knightly virtues, honor and courtly love: "the source of the chivalrous idea," remarked Johan Huizinga, who devoted several chapters of The Waning of the Middle Ages to chivalry and its effects on the medieval character, "is pride aspiring to beauty, and formalized pride gives rise to a conception of honour, which is the pole of noble life."[2] The word is derived from the French word "chevalerie", itself derived from "chevalier", which means knight, derived from "cheval", horse (indicating one who rides a horse).
The age of Chivalry is gone, but today the terms chivalry and chivalrous are still sometimes used to describe courteous behavior of men towards women.
Yeah it's from Wiki, I don't give a crap...
The point is, it came from ages ago, so now it's been built into society like some kind of custom, so men just do it anyway. Remember that ages ago when it all began, women were much more disadvantaged, so it was only fair they got treated 'chivalrously' right?
And to add to that, strictly speaking it is only usually a thing men do for women. Yes women can do it but that's not really 'chivalry' as such, because if a woman did it for a man it doesn't fit the definition of chivalry - 'men doing courteous behaviour for women' or whatever. Maybe nowadays women do that for men, but it's not like women open car doors for men, or pull out their chair, carry their luggage, etc.
Last edited by a moderator: