Sunday, May 08, 2005

Feminism: The Complete Rationalization of the Demise of Chivalry

i've heard, several of late, of many complaints about how men nowadays are less chivalrous and less inclined to be of a gentleman to fellow ladies: the economising of manners on the womanfolk. and i've also heard how the situation used to be that men change after they get married, all for the worst- with the slipping on the wedding ring, comes the slipping off of romanticism and sensitivity that used to be so familiar and in abundance. i'm obviously in danger of exploding the minefields of over-generalisation but hey, i'm a mere social critic, i serve the perpetuators, am never the perpetuator.

and to that observation, to my kind and genteel womanfolk all around, i present to you a foolproof (albeit not a tonguelash-proof) and complete rationale to this supposed demise of chivalry: the advent of feminism. go stone catherine mckinnon and the likes over this but it's truly your own undoing (or doing, depending on what levels of finger-pointing you want to attribute). see a large component of this should-be-scraped school of thought is the hallmark of equality: what men can do, women can too. yes yes, all hail the woman-might and what-nots you have to prove that you can always do it better than the men can but think about footing the bill next time, holding the door for yourself, driving yourself around without the human-map guide(male of course) next to you and do all the cleaning yourself- well, the woman might can conquer all! so don't complain of chivalry not having a place in our modern times and reminiscing its once ubiquitous presence like you always had it. male chivalry is long taken for granted and for feminists to come up and proclaim that opening doors for the female species is a form of gender belittling and assumption of weakness on the male species' part, you gotta give the men a break. you simply can't be the murderer and cry murder at the same time. and u also can't have your cake and eat it. and if feminists really want to start rationalising chivalry, just strike it down as being antithetical to the propogation of feminism and gamely throw it out of the window, don't still stand around and say that that's just within a man to do it. so i give to you that feminism has itself to blame for a lot of things women want most and lost them through their 'cause'.

to think someone actually gave me a rationalization upon the rationalization of feminism by purporting that women in want of rich husbands still runs atrack with feminist thinking since one should see the woman as the queen bee and the male as the worker bee bringing her deserved honey to her. if ever i want to do that to some dudette, i'm doing it out of the goodness and love of my heart and not the recognition of any superiority of any gender, and of course the recognition that i am obviously the one with the apts of bringing in more money so live with it. all i can say to that 'theory' is, you gotta hand it to some women, man.

you really think virginia woolf was a staunch feminist? in the lunacy of her being, how could she still be able to propound her feminist ideals if not for Leonard Woolf, seriously.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna be a feminist n uphold the sacred rights of womenfolk in a male-dominated, patriachial, asian society. I'll kick the shit out of the arses of men and show them that women are very much their own mistresses and captain-ness (i coined this) of their own lives. We can pay our own bills, and if u so much as insinuate that we are weaker cos we can't lift tt heavyweight thingy over there...i'll drill a hole in yr feet with the heels of my manolo blahniks n slap yr face with my ever reliable, ever fashionable gucci/dior/chanel bag...watever that i'm carrying that day. That's girrrl power for u!Ha!

Note 1: I said we 'can' pay our own bills, but the 60 million dollar question is...should we? Our ability to pay our bills shouldn't be confused with the 'obligation' of men to pay their dues to women. It's a known fact tt men are less expressive n not v good at choosing gifts...just take paying bills as gifts to us chosen by us. Voila, we have one of the ingredients for a happy happy relationship and men are spared the chore of fretting over and finding that 'perfect' gift.

Note 2: The above acts of drilling holes into feet with manolo blahniks n slapping faces with gucci/dior/chanel bag can still be achieved with the same vehemence even if they were not paid for by yourself.
See? Women CAN have their cake and eat it too.

By the way, we detract largely. GJ has attributed the lack of chivalry to the rise of feminism... I quote a female British politician, Nancy Astor, "In passing, also, I would like to say that the first time Adam had a chance he laid the blame on a woman."
Men...*roll eyes*

rachel said...

i'm all for the queen bee thing.
-grins-

got here from meryl's blog - linked you, btw.

Anonymous said...

The reason why they have a Women's Charter but not a Men's Charter is because we are different. Not unequal, since we are all equal in human dignity, see Article 9 of the Singapore Constitution. But we are different, and hey, if the fact that we get to vote means doing away with some of the 'perks' that comes with being female, like opening of car doors and such, then hey, give me my voting power any day. Social niceties are only a facade of respect, if we are to be really respected as equals. Chivalry is dead anyway. And the thing is, it all boils down to a social contract, if you want a girl to like you, you just gotta show some chivalry, authentic or otherwise. And be a real man, and not just a male. ;)