Demarcating chivalry and chauvinism
There is a very fine line between chivalry and chauvinism, almost as fine as the one that runs betwixt the kinky and the perverse.
I don’t necessarily make such demarcations, and certainly not when it comes to sensitive matters of the bedroom, for one man’s S&M is my, I mean, another man’s romantic.
Moving on smartly, ladies, I feel the urgent need to clarify the difference between the two. Chivalry is something that knights used to exhibit, even if it meant getting your expensive brocade cloak dirty.
It was a sign of the highest respect that all men owed to women. It included everything, from giving helping hand to alight from a carriage to holding doors open. If there had been jars back then, opening the lid too would have come under chivalry. Ladies, in general were given the first right of choice, and/or refusal.
Today, few people maintain the same and it is not because we are all too busy to be courteous. It is because ever since this devil called empowerment came and played Chinese whispers with women worldwide all they can think of is equality. As a result, chivalry got confused with a dirty word, chauvinism, which, for those in the un-know, means the act of denying a lady her dues on the preposterous presumption that she is incapable or inept of receiving them.
Such could include bias at the work place, gender-discrimination in sports, or politics, and the likes. It should not be confused with chivalry, where the offer to assist is merely a polite discretion and in no way a binding or retarding obligation. In other words, chivalry is what lets a lady get away without putting a wrinkle on her dress whereas chauvinism is what puts a frown on her face.
I am chivalrous. I like holding doors open and I even like to allow a lady to pass ahead of me in a line. At no time should any confident woman see this as patronising or in-equalising. If anything, being in the company of such divine ladies makes me feel more of a responsible man than an immature boy.
Equality is for those who are born equal. Women, are smarter, wiser, and more desirable. Why then, oh ladies please, would you wish to be among us, the lesser equals?
The writer is a sommelier
Post new comment