Dark Bilious Vapors

As a GUY, Keith Blanchard (Chicago Tribune) writes some of the funniest stuff from his own personal Gender Wars files perspective in a section of the Tribune’s “Q” department called “Male Call.” Here is today's offering: A Question That Makes Men Squirm.

"It's a question that has beguiled man for ... oh, a couple of decades. From the dawn of time until the '60s, the answer was easy.

Should a man give up his seat on a bus to a woman?
…
This is nothing more than Gentleman 101.

For, without chivalry, are we not just a bunch of monkeys? OK, monkeys with iPods?

Unfortunately, it's not so simple.

Chivalry was born in an age when women were considered the literal property of men.

Its civilities were officially bestowed on "the weaker sex" to make their forced subservience tolerable.

And there is a feminist argument that today, opening doors for women, pulling out their chairs and so on keeps us all chained to that ugly old mind-set, reinforcing the notion that women are naturally frail.

Heck, it's downright condescending to offer one's seat to a woman, and I should be slapped silly for even thinking of it.

See my dilemma?
....
You have to be a special type of cretin not to give up your seat for the elderly, the pregnant or the little girl struggling with her Lincoln Memorial popsicle-stick diorama.

Likewise, if you're specifically trying to hit on the woman in question, this is clearly protected behavior under the Blonds Prefer Gentlemen Act of 1963.

No, I'm talking about whether to yield my seat to a 30-something, smartly dressed businesswoman. My equal, in other words (except for the smartly dressed part)…."

Karen on 05.01.05 @ 04:45 PM CST