Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: Commentary

Media Credit: Arden Barlow ’12

Chivalry has not gone the way of the dodo, but rather the prairie dog. Chivalrous men are now an underground society, cautiously popping up whenever and wherever it seems safe to do so--we hold the doors, we help carry the heavy loads, we sometimes even offer to refill drinks while we're up. It is by no stretch of the imagination, however, widely expected or practiced. Chivalry originated as a code of honor followed by medieval knights that included such principles as courage and courtesy toward others, especially women. Over time, chivalry devolved into a shadow of its former self, lingering only in trivial exercises of etiquette.

A great deal of decay can be seen even when comparing our generation with the previous one. Fighting for a woman's honor has been replaced by the ubiquitous 'bros before hos' credo. A complex and stringent courting ritual has given way to one-night stands with drunken women. The cultural climate is such that one is actually ridiculed for questioning the treatment of females as disposable objects. Though it is wildly inaccurate to claim that everyone is guilty of such atrocities, we are all remiss in our chivalrous duties to a certain extent. After all, who among us has never decided that there was simply not enough time to give someone a proper greeting in passing, or cut in line, or sworn excessively? Some semblance of chivalry lingers in certain individuals, but it is no longer the norm, and that is nothing short of a tragedy. It is also something of a mystery.

Recognizing the current state of affairs is far easier than understanding how it came to be. How did we reach this point? What corroded chivalry? Some contend that the feminist movement itself repressed chivalry.

The central assumption of chivalry, that one ought to be especially courteous to women, has always found tension with the feminist message. However, this argument seems lacking.

If feminism did indeed 'kill' chivalry, why are we not in a state of gender equality? In place of courtesy, there is not respect but abuse. Further, chivalry was greatly diluted long before feminism received widespread attention.

Knights no longer exist, so chivalry could have simply become archaic with the fall of knighthood and rise of firearms, but the advancement of technology fails to directly explain the loss of a code of honor. There is some validity to the idea that our goal-oriented society has simply shifted priorities; that our selfishness is merely a cultural phenomenon. That may be so, but the fact remains that each of us makes the decision every day to be or not to be chivalrous. Holding her hair back as your friend vomits in the toilet may not be as glorious as slaying a dragon, but you'll be no less of a knight in shining armor to her.

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