Poll: Is treating women in Gentlemanly way Sexist?

[Abedeus]

Well, I try to act as gentlemanly as I can, but... only if a woman deserves it. Random strangers? Sure, I don't judge them, treat them well. Girls I like? Same, treat them well. Annoying bitches that have superiority complex or think they're in the center of the word? Hell no.

You can expect to be treated like a woman when you act like a woman.

What do you mean by "act like a woman"? What sort of behaviour lets someone deserve to be treated like a woman?

For one, not acting like a jackass. A loud-mouthed douchebag that, if she was a he, would probably get a kick to the teeth after one too many stupid comments or rude insults.

It would be sexist to not kick them in the teeth for acting like that.

Of course, the very idea of "treating someone like a woman" is itself sexist.

Oh, well. Sexism is never going away, so at least we can keep positive sexism, like being polite to women for being women.

I like women. I respect them and I treat them better than men.

I think the opposite is much, much worse.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Ok, being nice = being sexist.

Seriously, the escapist is a really useless place to talk about anything other than games / movies, because it seems alot of the vocal people on these forums never lived in the real world.

 

[Nyaliva]

This topic really seems to boil down to your definition of sexism. Most people have adopted an "If you treat women differently to men than that is sexist" stance. However I find this too technical a response to the question. Certainly if you are more polite to women than you are to men then by technical standards that is sexist however I feel that a better definition would be if you are more polite to women in a condescending fashion, such as thinking that they somehow need it more than men, then that is sexist. I'm constantly tossing between these two definitions because one seems too technical and the other seems too immeasureable. For example, someone who has been taught to hold doors open for women may not really think it condescending but most people would think so. In the end I just sort of throw my hands up and wonder why we don't just open the door for everyone...

OT: By technical standards, chivalry is sexist (which breaks my heart), however if applied to everyone it's just plain ol' being polite. So while I often profess that people should engage in chivalry more often, I more so mean that when talking to people struggling with relationships, and generally mean to be polite to everyone.

 

[Kriptonite]

Heh, I'm glad someone brought this up. I suppose being gentlemanly towards women only is a bit sexist. However, if a woman gets mad at a man for being a decent human being because she assumes he assumes she needs his kindness (or some similar rubbish) then she is a sexist idiot. Being a nice person is just that, nice. It doesn't mean you're looking for a reward, have ulterior motives or think less of another person. People that instantly assume otherwise are fools. Isn't it funny though, that no one would ever have an issue for a woman holding the door for a man or some other macho stereotype in reverse? Strange reverse-double-standard our overly PC society has now created. Kinda sad, huh?

 

[sky14kemea]

Why can't you just act like a gentleman to females and males?

It's not sexist, persay. Depending on how you go about it, and what your thought process is while doing it.

I just don't see why you can't hold doors open and be polite to both sexes. (b'-')b

 

[tensorproduct]

Well, I try to act as gentlemanly as I can, but... only if a woman deserves it. Random strangers? Sure, I don't judge them, treat them well. Girls I like? Same, treat them well. Annoying bitches that have superiority complex or think they're in the center of the word? Hell no.

You can expect to be treated like a woman when you act like a woman.

What do you mean by "act like a woman"? What sort of behaviour lets someone deserve to be treated like a woman?

For one, not acting like a jackass. A loud-mouthed douchebag that, if she was a he, would probably get a kick to the teeth after one too many stupid comments or rude insults.

Oh, okay. So you allow the same standard of behaviour for men and women? I apologise, but I read your original post rather differently than that. If you expect the same level of politeness from both men and women in order for them to avoid a teeth-kicking, then that's not sexist at all.

You're eagerness to resort to violence is rather gentlemanly, by an old-fashioned sense of the word.

P.S. This is a little out of the blue, but I asked you a couple of questions about RTM here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/9.363263.14239095
I really was interested in a response, but if that's tl;dr that's cool. You don't have to go out of your way to satisfy my curiousity.

 

[tensorproduct]

Well, I try to act as gentlemanly as I can, but... only if a woman deserves it. Random strangers? Sure, I don't judge them, treat them well. Girls I like? Same, treat them well. Annoying bitches that have superiority complex or think they're in the center of the word? Hell no.

You can expect to be treated like a woman when you act like a woman.

What do you mean by "act like a woman"? What sort of behaviour lets someone deserve to be treated like a woman?

For one, not acting like a jackass. A loud-mouthed douchebag that, if she was a he, would probably get a kick to the teeth after one too many stupid comments or rude insults.

It would be sexist to not kick them in the teeth for acting like that.

Of course, the very idea of "treating someone like a woman" is itself sexist.

Oh, well. Sexism is never going away, so at least we can keep positive sexism, like being polite to women for being women.

Sorry to harp on about this, but could you explain to me again why women shouldn't have to do things like open their own doors or pull out their own chairs? You said before that it was to save them time that would be better spent on other things, but could you explain why, as women, their time is more valuable? (Excepting for the moment that I'm pretty sure these things save nobody any time.)