Is chivalry dead?
They say chivalry is dead, but did it ever actually exist?
During the medieval era, chivalry is something of a code that knights must uphold to represent the ideal version of a man; respectful, gallant, kind, basically all things good.
Knighthood meant that men had to be always good, especially to women, because why else would anyone want to be a knight if there was not a damsel in distress that they needed to save, right?
Unfortunately, chivalry did not mean all that much even during that time because, despite the high standard of character that they set upon themselves, men still lacked a great deal in good conduct. Why is that you ask? It is just the good old patriarchy.
What happened to being a gentleman?
Modern times consider chivalry a dead concept. Some people think that men from the 40s were much better because they were more of a gentleman because unlike the men in the present era, they would rather stand in a transportation vehicle to offer their seats to women. Never mind the overwhelming accounts of murder, rape, kidnapping, and other sorts of injustices done to women. Most of which are committed by men in all the history of mankind.
Men created the idea of chivalry to make up for the inequality against women that they themselves perpetuated. They are aware of how wrong the world does women, and being a gentleman is their way of saying, “Hey I know that everything is set on making your life infinitely difficult because you are a woman, so here, as a man, let me open the car door for you.”
It’s not dead.
Is being a gentleman good? Sure, there is no problem in being one. Is it necessary? No. There should not even be a specific term for men who treat other people better than a normal man would. The very existence of the word ‘gentleman’ indicates that there are men who are not. And they are the majority, the usual type of men. How horrible it is that they take up most of the male population that people needed create a label for men who are nice and respectful.
One might say that chivalry, as a collective form of men, is not dead; it never even was.
