Chivalry Sinks under Equality's Murky Waters

"If there is no pride, no sense of particular duty to a high cause, why, then, would they possibly surrender a seat on a lifeboat?"

I wonder if maybe she hasn't considered that there are other higher causes a man can aspire to that don't include dying in the place of women, all other things being equal.

But I will say this about the behavior of the crew that day: male or female, their behavior was wholly unprofessional. And that is my problem with them, not that most were men and that they didn't stay behind to die in the stead of women or to conduct women to safety. My problem is they didn't stay behind to make sure *passengers* were conducted to safety, male and female alike.

This woman who wrote this article has no clue about what's happening with men these days. She's at least one, if not two generations, behind the times. She uses the old fashioned shaming and guilt tripping lines like those men who didn't willingly give up their seats on the lifeboats to women are "cowards." Who the hell is she to judge? Women really need to get down off their high horse and start getting with the equality program, that they themselves initiated. I salute the men who did not play the old chivalry game... good on you mates. It's time men stopped listening to women's judgements of them. So what if she thinks those guys were cowards... she can go ahead and drown.

The problem with feminism is that the focus on blaming everything on men instead of chasing down women such as the author of this article. She sounds like someone who is completely unaware that these days women can be cruise ship captains, too. But according to her logic, if the captain was a woman, then one of the male passengers should have left his wife and kids behind in order to give up a lifeboat seat to a female crew member. Moreover, why the outrage? The way I look at it, there was absolutely nothing wrong with men who refused to give up their seats or be separated from their friends and families because some idiotic crew members tried to enforce a discriminatory standard from the 1920's. This is a case where chivalry was the problem and the chaotic situation that ensued should be blamed on those people who were trying to enforce cultural norms that no one else believes in anymore.

It certainly is interesting how men fleeing to lifeboats during a disaster at sea is something people can demonize so easily. It shows that we still have a lot of work to do changing society's view of maleness.

I think it's really unfair for people to judge those men. Unless you were on that sinking ship, you have no idea how frightening a situation that is. Personally, I'm scared shitless of going to sea. One of the women who was angry about the men not waiting complained that the men were knocking into her and her girls. Well, perhaps they shouldn't have blocked the way to the lifeboats.

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!

A man simply waiting in line and refusing to allow a woman to butt ahead of him can and will be seen as pushing past women and children (because he belongs at the back of the line, so he is clearly pushing his way forward) by a woman who feels entitled to go before men but was denied an opportunity to butt ahead of him. All testimonies of men behaving poorly have come, from what I have seen, from women.

That said, the crew should be trained to lead these evacuations, so it is their responsibility to ensure the passengers get off safely. They're failure to do so is shameful (regardless of their gender or the gender of the passengers)

Men and women are EQUAL - on the job, in the board room, during high school and college events and......on sinking ships. No woman should have preference in life over a man. Isn't this what feminism is all about? EQUALITY in ALL aspects in life. Equality from day to night, EQUALITY, at sea or ashore. There is no caveat to EQUALITY when it comes to life. If women want equality, it MUST be equality all of he time. As for kids, should you save a 1 year old girl over a 1 year old boy? No they are equal in their right to life....just like men have the right to life equally as women.

Equality can't be implemented to the betterment of women when they so chose because that is NOT equality.