Chivalry is dead, ladies

You killed it. It's dead. You can vote and you can work and you can divorce now, so shut the hell up and stop expecting men to protect you, provide for you, or even bothering to lift a finger for you. You wanted "equality" and you got it. So, stop whining about it already:

Has anyone ever helped pop my bag up into the overhead compartment? Nope. Have I seen any other woman helped? Nope. This week, an engineer in his 50s just stood there in the aisle, his hands clasped, as I played Olympic weight-lifting with my suitcase right in front of him. Just stood there, looking intently at the sticky carpet. Probably afraid to chip a nail or something.

Has the women's liberation movement really scared the bejesus out of men this much? When did it become chivalrous to steadfastly look away and not bother to help? If a 6am flight is anything to go by, you'd think the concept of a gentleman was well and truly dead.

I promise you, I won't get angry or defensive or give you attitude, I'll in fact be super-grateful and flash you an extra-big smile despite the lack of sleep.

Which brings me to the final dismount. Even before the seatbelt sign goes off, the jackets get put on, the suitcases get territorially placed in the aisle, and the competitive rush to get off that plane begins.

Of course, I'm left to struggle with my own bag. It's not that I expect help, it's just the harshness of it all I find a bit surprising.

I do not help single women in any circumstance in which I wouldn't help a man. I do always help mothers with young children, which can be a little amusing on those occasions when you find yourself standing on a train with a stroller and a baby while the mother is on the platform wrestling with her other kids, very much hoping that the train doesn't pull away before she gets on board.

But I don't help other men stow their luggage, so why on Earth would I help some perfectly healthy young woman who professes to be not only strong and independent, but my equal?

As Instapundit correctly noted: "Chivalry was a system, which imposed behavioral obligations on women as well as on men. Women were happy to cast their obligations off, yet seem perennially surprised that men haven’t stayed exactly the same."

Ray Rice is the perfect image of equality in action. Based on the police summons of both the Baltimore running back and his fiance, his fiance hit him and Rice promptly hit her right back. Is that what feminists wanted? Because that's what they got, and they damn well deserve it too.

Ideologies have consequences.