A few weeks ago I was with a group of friends. We're in this...club? Organization? Eh...anyway, we're a group on campus. We were having a meeting outside (always a bad idea. We were even more easily distracted than usual, and you just don't stick your ADHD president outside for a meeting), and we got to this table to have it, but there weren't anywhere near enough seats. One of my friends, a guy, said that the girls should all sit and the guys would stand (all three of them). A girl replied with, "No, we wanted the vote, we'll take all that comes with it," which I found amusing, simply because I had watched Leap Year the night before and figured that's probably where she got that line from. But he responded simply with, "It has nothing to do with the vote. It's called chivalry."
This is the same friend that a few weeks before that probably thought I was weird because I found it slightly bothersome that the Red Power Ranger was never a girl. I mean, it never made me not want to watch the show, it's just kind of...bothering, I guess. It's not irritating or frustrating...it just bothers me to some degree. They've had the Yellow Ranger be a guy, and they've even had a Light Blue Ranger be a girl. But why not have a single Red Power Ranger be a girl? Even when there were tons of Rangers for the police force in S.P.D., none of the background Red Rangers (to my knowledge) were ever female. Now, I could be wrong. It's obviously been a while since I've watched the show at all. But I don't remember there ever being even a background one. And yes, my "extensive" knowledge on Power Rangers probably is rooted in the fact that I watched it up until high school. Don't hate; you know you loved the cheesiness of that show.
What is the point of all of this? I honestly don't know. I don't feel quite like sleeping yet, even though I'm tired. I wanted to finally update this blog (I'm done with freshmen year, by the way. Back in the beautiful nation of Texas). These specific thoughts kept floating around in my head. Pick one and go with it. I guess my "point" is that I'm not one of those crazy feminists, who hates men and wishes women could rule the world. I personally prefer hanging out with guys over girls, because quite frankly, girls are psychotic (sorry men, but it's time you knew the truth). I grasp the concept that men are stronger physically; that women really shouldn't go to combat zones on purpose in wars because there are things that can be done to them in a torture room that is more harmful to women than men; I don't really like the idea of a female pastor; etc., etc. But there are other realities I grasp as well, like the fact that women are not weak; that they are still very capable of handling themselves; that God uses women just as powerfully as He uses men. Maybe what I'm asking myself is what is the line between fighting for equality and accepting chivalry?
I like to think that chivalry is not dead. I don't want it to be dead. The day that men stop acting like gentlemen and the day women stop requesting them to treat them like ladies might as well be the death of humanity. There is nothing wrong with a man making a woman feel special. I think it's when the man stops treating a woman like she is something special that there is the problem. It's when he forgets that woman is his better half -- that before God made her, he felt lonely and incomplete -- that trouble begins. When he treats her as if she is not capable of handling herself in many situations, or he forgets God's use of women throughout history and the Bible, or he treats her as if she is beneath him, and not at the same level as him. When a woman is paid less than a man at the same job; when a woman is cheated into paying more for a car than a man; when a woman is patted on the head and told, "Be a good girl and go back to the kitchen where you belong" -- that is where inequality comes into play. But when a man is doing a woman a kindness, such as holding the door open, it's not because he thinks she's too weak to open it. It's because he believes -- quite rightly -- that she is one of the most amazing creatures God has put upon this earth, and she should be treated as such. Paying for something, like dinner or a movie, shouldn't be taken as a threat by women, either. Any man that exhibits chivalry isn't trying to "one up" a woman by paying for the meal; he's just trying to make the evening into a relaxing time for her, so that she doesn't have to be worrying about how much money is in her wallet.
This friend of mine -- the chivalrous one -- has said more than one thing to me that I haven't forgotten. There's something else he has said that comes to mind very easily, and remembering it brings me comfort when I'm afraid, for some strange, unexplained reason. Maybe I'll write about it another time, but for now, I can't help but be happy to know this young man, because he's made me stop and think about chivalry versus equality and quite frankly how I feel about the whole subject. I think my conclusions are clear -- I'm a romantic who wants to be treated equally, but also like a lady. I'm not some feminist who hates men and demands more than just equality. I may dislike men on occasion, but no more so than any other girl -- or better yet, a Taylor Swift album. I go back and forth between liking a guy and hating his existence just as easily as her -- and I'm sure the same goes for quite a number of other teenage girls. But anyway, the point is, know when to pick your battles. If a guy is opening your door, chances are, he's just trying to be a gentlemen, like his mother raised him to be. If he's telling you about staying in the kitchen...well, punch him.
Time for me to go to sleep; goodnight. Stay ducky, stay lucky.
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