I will hold a door open for a woman, and if you take offense to it, then I’m sorry, but it’s not an insult. I’m not saying “Well since you’re helpless, I’ll have to open the door for you.” I mean, duh. You HAVE two arms, I can SEE that. And I’m pretty sure that having lived X amount of years, you’ve probably opened doors on more than one occasion. In fact, what if I’M offended that you would think I was stupid and pig-headed enough to believe you couldn’t open a door for yourself?
It’s like if someone says Merry Christmas to you, and you don’t celebrate Christmas…Do you go, “Hey, Jackass! You’re insulting my beliefs!”? You just thank them and wish them the same, because they’re not trying to poke jabs at you…the INTENTION behind it is “have a good day”, and the intention behind holding the door for a woman is the same as smiling at a stranger, or saying “good afternoon” as you pass. You CAN take it as some sort of hostile threat, but really, lighten up, heh…
I wouldn’t hit a woman, unless she hit me (and I’d probably just wrestle her arms to keep her from hitting me again, rather than say, kick her in the head, heh), but I wouldn’t hit anyone unless they hit me. And I hold doors for anyone who’s behind me or looks like they need it (holding a package, pushing a stroller, etc.).
I think chivalry is basically dead though…And I agree that it’s because of people being so defensive like that. I mean, if I’m having a bad day, and someone tells me “Have a nice day!”, I should take that as an insult that I’m not having the type of day they assume I SHOULD be having…I’m less human than them because I’m not having a nice day like they are! How insulting, right? No one should do anything for other people, ESPECIALLY other people who look like they’re having a bad day, or having trouble with something…Then we can avoid all this.
I, however, am still going to hold doors because it’s polite. Sorry, heh.