Reblogged from Thought Catalog:
It's easy to feel conflicted about chivalry, as we've come to understand it. It can feel outdated, condescending, even infantilizing. And it's true that, for many men who engage in what they perceive to be "gentlemanly behavior," it is simply a means to an end. Either they believe that women are inherently a weaker sex more in need of help executing basic tasks, or they assume that enough "nice" gestures piled up one after the other will inevitably result in sex.








