Towards a Definition of Chivalry
March 15, 2012
JESSE POWELL writes:
Men have a duty to provide for and protect women; this is the basic code of chivalry. Protecting women from domestic violence committed by men certainly falls under the “protect” aspect of any civilized chivalrous code. There is an attribute of chivalry though that is important to emphasize in the context of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA): What chivalry dictates is decided upon by men. Chivalry encompasses the masculine duties towards women for the benefit of women that are defined and enforced by men. Women should not decide whether a man is being chivalrous or dictate to the man what the man owes a woman under the chivalrous code. Men impose upon other men the man’s duty to the woman.
VAWA is a corruption of the concept of chivalry. Phyllis Schlafly is advocating for an interpretation and application of VAWA that honors both men’s and women’s interests and duties. The issue of domestic violence needs to be removed from feminist control and placed under the man’s control as chivalry itself properly understood is under the man’s control.
I will add that what chivalry is is not something to be determined by each individual man; it is a collective masculine ethic that is enforced against each individual man by the collective male governing structure. This means that an individual man violating the ethical standards set by men in general is to be held accountable for his actions by his fellow men.
