There is some dissonance here between this stance:
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Originally Posted by SirLance
In the truest sense, chivalry the qualities idealized by knighthood, such as bravery, courtesy, honor, and gallantry toward women.
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Originally Posted by Shani
To me its not at all hard to see courtesy as a by product of Chilvary. This is the knights code of Chivalry and Im sorry I dont see one word in here that denotes its only to females...
...I think a lot of people in the world today could stand to live by this
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and this one:
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Originally Posted by Gilda
It's helpful to understand where the specific codes that go with chivalry come from. Some are derived from religious traditions, while others come from, strange as it may seem, practical adaptations to the differences between the sexes as they existed and functioned at the time they began. A great many cultural norms developed as a practical adaptation that fit a particular time but remain or are applied in an overly general manner after the conditions that led to their development no longer persist.
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Originally Posted by roachboy
2. on the word chivalry: jesus christ, why on earth is ANYTHING about the high middle ages an object of ANY kind of nostalgia, seen in any way productive of habits of mind or practice that are worth repeating?
chivalry was mostly about social power. ...
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We like to look at history through rose coloured glasses, but a more thorough investigation tends towards a history that is often not as exciting as we thought, and in some cases downright despicable by today's social norms of the West. Those of you citing chivalry as a glamorous old code of conduct can't just throw out the bathwater and keep the baby.