Lo’s Weekly Rant (er..Rave?)
Stamped: May 4th, 2006 | Toggle Similar
Tagged: around town, rant.
So, not to get all Oprah on your ass or anything but for once I’ve decided to forgo being Negative Nancy and try something different (kinda). Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch, I’ll be back to railing against humanity next week.
One little ancillary bummer of the feminist revolution seems to be that for the most part men now think it’s okay to do away with chivalry. If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a million times, “Well since we’re all equal and shit, you can open your own damn door” or my personal favorite, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. But you know what? It sucks, cause I like eating my damn cake and having it buy me cocktails.
Generally, the only time said chivalry occurs is when it is a very obvious means to an end. The end being your bed. When you’re at a bar a guy will trip all over himself to light your cigarette or buy you a drink but he undoubtedly expects a little poonanie nanie at the end of the night. That’s just the way things work, and we ladies accept it as jungle law with few questions asked and plenty of precautions taken.
But, every once in a while it’s just nice when a man does something chivalrous simply for the sake of polite society. It gives you faith in humanity and faith that maybe, just maybe, someone’s looking at you as more than just a fine piece of ass.
I was lucky enough to have several encounters with such endangered males this week. So just a little shout out to them for sparking some optimism and generally making my day.
Nice Old Man Waiting for the Train: It was hot and steamy on the platform (for once) and I was sweating my ass off. I was juggling three bags and a clingy coat and seriously struggling to take it off with out dropping something. You didn’t have to, but you kindly reached over and asked politely if I’d like some help. I nodded unbelievingly and you helped me out of the sauna of my own creation. How such a simple gesture gave me such a big smile is beyond me, but it was great nonetheless.
Random Attorney on a Firm Wide Email: I was asked to put my name on a letter that made me extremely uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure if I was being paranoid, so I was about to do it anyway. You called out of the blue (it wasn’t even your case) and told me you were concerned about it putting me on the line. You backed me up and told me if I couldn’t work it out with the attorney I was writing the letter for that you would go to bat for me. You had nothing to gain from sticking your neck out and I wouldn’t have even thought to involve you. So in short, that was really fucking nice.
Cute Boy in Green Jacket: I boarded the crowded train and you were sitting down. I’m not disabled (at least not physically), I’m not 80 years old, and I didn’t have a lot of baggage with me. But you gave me your seat anyway. I was so shocked I think I muttered something incomprehensible and sat down. I can’t remember the last time a stranger did that just because I’m a girl and it’s a sweet thing to do. The sad part is that I felt really guilty about it for about two stops, like I shouldn’t have taken it or something.
But maybe as we get older we stop being such tough girls all the time. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have let the old man help me with my coat, or the green jacket boy give me his seat, I would have just politely said “No thank you” and waved my hand. I’m a do-it-yourself kinda gal after all. But the fact is that the universe has doled out quite a heap of steaming shit on me lately so from now on, when it throws a little chivalry my way…I’m sitting the fuck down.
Last 5 posts by Lo
- Hello, God? It's me, Fashion Mullet. - March 30th, 2007
- To Slut or Not to Slut, That is the Question... - October 26th, 2006
- Sidle on Up to the Booty Bar - October 20th, 2006
- Slacker Central - October 12th, 2006
- Lo's Weekly Rant: I Call Bullshit. - October 5th, 2006
It’s funny. The last two girlfreinds I had kept telling me to stop being so chivarlious, because I opened doors, gave up seats on the bus for them, payed for dinner, stand when they entered a room and such. But this all comes from my up brining (i took etiquette classes).
But here I was not two months ago and I was told by my girlfriend at the time that “chivalry is dead since the femist reveloution, and you should stop trying to save it.”
-Tyson
Tyson, just as many young men your age have forgotten how to give, many young women of your contemporary have forgotten how to accept.
Chivalry is not dead, but forgotten by the young, as Dr. Georgio says. It costs nothing, but is priceless.
jr
Tyson - honey, some girl gone done you wrong. Any cool girl without an invisible chip on her shoulder that I know, appreciates chivalry to the enth degree. Keep true to your upbringing grasshopper.
Dr. Georgia adn JR - Amen.
Ooops…I meant Dr. Georgi-O. Looks like my mind is still on our last Pillowfight!
Why has so much been lost on recent generations of men? I was raised to believe that real men honored their commitments, felt that walking curbside with a woman should be reflexive, and understood the finer points of sartorial splendor. I’m under 35 yet I am often thought to be an oddity amongst my peers. It shouldn’t be this way.
in this day and age of equal opportunity, wouldnt it be nice for woman to offer such services to men? It will usually be refused, but the offer will always be appreciated.
Instead of equal opportunity meaning men shouldnt do this anymore, shouldnt it mean that women should act the same way?