chivalry is sexist

laura stampler's - men don't recognize "benevolent" sexism

SUPER interesting article because i've argued with people about so-called chivalry, or, as labeled in the article: benevolent sexism. on dictionary.com, chivalry is defined as (besides the stuff about knights): "courteous behaviour, esp towards women." ...doesn't that right there indicate a certain amount of discrimination against men? which is, duh, sexist.

"Criticism focused on the researchers asking participants to identify seemingly well-intended male behavior as discriminatory." but just because it's well intended doesn't mean it's not sexist. back in the day, people didn't allow girls to attend school because they thought girls were too stupid and therefore saw no reason to stress them out over writing and arithmetic and such. for various other reasons, certain other groups of people were sterilized, taken away from their families, institutionalized, or even killed, all for their own "good."

so the next time you're about to offer a bit of polite help to a woman, first ask yourself: "would i be doing the same thing for a man?" hopefully the answer is yes. because we should be more thoughtful and considerate to all others, regardless of their sex.