[Guest Post] Chivalry is dead…or is it?

Note: This post was written by a friend of mine, Moriah Hall. She wrote a speech on chivalry that qualified to the 2017 NCFCA Region 7 Championship.

It’s a simple fact that in today’s culture, chivalry is scarce.

​Chivalry started out as a code of conduct for knights, but since then has been defined as “a polite and respectful way of behaving, specifically towards women."

Since the redefining of chivalry, it has begun on a slow decline.

In April 1912, when the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg, only 7% of the casualties were women. This low percentage of women who died tells us that the men were still highly aware of their duty to women as chivalrous gentlemen at this time.

Then came the feminist movement. In The Flipside of Feminism, Suzanne Venker and Phyllis Schlafly describe the feminism that, begining during the 60's, aided in the destroying of chivalry. This feminism teaches that the home is a waste and stay-at-home mothers are looked down upon. This movement also trains women to think that by showing acts of chivalry, men are saying that women are weak. This in turn makes men think that women look upon acts of chivalry as acts of inferiority. Today, only 14% of men will offer their seat to a woman on a train or bus and over 75% don't offer to carry a heavy bag or suitcase. Over one-third of 5,000 men reported they would never help a woman struggling to carry a baby carriage up or down stairs, for fear of offending the mother.

Feminism impacted the world and we are still seeing repercussions of it when it comes to chivalrous gentlemen. In January 2012, a cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, hit a reef. Over 50% of the casualties on the Costa Concordia were women. Percentage wise, more than seven times the women died on the Costa Concordia than died on the Titanic. During the Costa Concordia’s evacuation, women were reportedly pushed aside by men. A survivor said, “…there were…men…jumping into…boats without their wives…”. Even a five-year-old girl drowned because she was turned away from lifeboats because no man would give up his place for her. On the Costa Concordia, there were over forty nationalities, meaning the lack of chivalry phenomenon is world wide.

Chivalry clearly needs a revival.

But how can we revive the chivalrous gentleman?

• For starters, ladies should let gentlemen be chivalrous to them and then thank the gentleman for his help, as this encourages him to demonstrate acts of chivalry more often and shows him that his actions do not go unnoticed.
• Gentlemen in turn should train younger men and boys to be chivalrous and then lead by example by also being chivalrous.

​These may seem like simple things, but they can make a world of difference.

Charles Kingsley wrote, “Some say that the age of chivalry is past…The age of chivalry is never past, so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth”. As long as women need heavy things carried or even a place on a lifeboat, we need chivalry. Because we live in a fallen world, women will always need those things. Thus we will always need chivalry.