Des-Bal wrote:If we're talking about knightly chivalry being merciless to infidels is more important than being nice to ladies.
In the modern conception chivalry is all about how you treat women. How does the duty of men to protect women mesh with feminism?
I'm inclined to disagree. Lewis in his scrawlings and lectures provides us with a rather robust and inclusive definition of chivalry as it was conceived in the twentieth century and juxtaposes it against the system of morality peculiar to classical antiquity - one which emerged from Homer as exemplified by Achilleus and Homer. It does include gestures such as a man giving up his seat to a woman, but, in the same stroke, it extends to gracious behavior on sports fields, polished manners in the dining hall, and magnanimity in interactions with other persons. His fundamental assertion was that the practical abolition of democracy must needs lead to the democratization of the worthwhile aspects of their ethical codes lest we become more base, more vicious, and more arbitrary as a society as a result.
Des-Bal wrote:Recently a woman decided I was going to walk her to her car because it was late. She asked me this despite the female security guard being present. Now any time you approach me with a question at work my internal response is "I'm tired, I'm busy, and I wouldn't care if you died" but a combination of diplomacy and cowardice usually softens it, in this case it softened it all the way to "Yeah sure." I thought about it some and if a woman requests or appears to need help in order to be safe my instinct is to render aid.
That got me thinking about a news story wherein a butch lesbian was badly beaten and nobody helped her. She claimed to the news that if she had been more feminine people would have helped, and that this was the result of bigotry.
If a man asked me to walk him to his car I would probably treat it as homosexual flirting because the alternative that a man feels to walk a short distance alone in the dark would make me think less of him. If I see a man getting hassled or even getting his ass kicked I'm walking the fuck away, but I'd 100% jump in on a woman's behalf even if it looks dicey.
I'm not certain letting a man get assaulted outside a field of sport or battle is especially chivalrous in either a medieval or modern context.
Des-Bal wrote:In that light was the woman in the article a victim of apathy towards nonconforming women or did she just find herself unable to reap the benefits associated with the gender role she chose to eschew?
It sounds like she was appealing to chivalry in all honesty and the expectation society puts on men to protect women.
Des-Bal wrote:I don't know if women are aware of how much they expect or even rely on chivalry even if they may view it as sexist.
I live in the South, but attend university in New England. I'm very much aware of how prevalent chivalry is in my home state.