In this modern age many women and men mourn the death of chivalry, many blaming feminism for its demise. On the other side of the coin many feminists celebrate the “death” of chivalry, seeing it as the advent of an age where women and men can be one step closer to equality, at least in terms of dating. This is certainly how I felt, until I became interested in the concept of chivalry and did a little research of my own. The days of men being obligated to open doors for women, pay for every date, and so on certainly should be on their way out… but what many of us fail to realize is this isn’t chivalry.
While there is no one definition of chivalry I have found some fairly authoritative summaries, via a University of Maryland professor’s research, that has lead me to believe that chivalry, true chivalry, may (a) not be completely dead as a social practice and (b) may actually hold a great deal of merit. Chivalry isn’t dead, not even close, its alive and well, and its growing to fit the times.
Imagine Today 