Chivalry refers to the medieval knights' code of honor that references a range of male behaviors. According to Texas A&M literary historian Jennifer Wollock, in the middle ages, European literature featured knights and kings as protectors of women.

For example, In Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of Britain” of 1138, King Arthur kills the rapist giant of Mont-Saint-Michel. A few decades later, the French poet Chrétien de Troyes portrays Sir Lancelot casting aside reputation, glory and treasured warhorses to save the kidnapped Queen Guinevere. Wollock argues that “such popular tales of chivalry pressured aristocrats to adopt the chivalric code – to some extent.”

In the 14th and 15th centuries, English writers like Geoffrey Chaucer and Sir Thomas Malory depicted the court of King Arthur as a bastion of justice for women, well beyond the norms of that day, Wollock argues. As knights intervened to protect civilians, western chivalry became a force of its own kind.

In today’s world, however, our society is very much in dispute over the value of chivalry. It’s because chivalry demands that maltreatment of women be crushed, whereas feminism calls for equal rights between women and men, by which logic, both feminism and chivalry mean the same thing: respect.

However, some people are not truly comfortable with chivalrous gestures as they believe that it’s not the same as respect. Skeptics see chivalry at odds with feminism, and argue it’s no longer relevant.

In modern Western cultures, chivalry can be seen in men offering a range of special courtesies to women. This includes paying on dates, carrying heavy objects, pulling out chairs, opening doors, and allowing women to go first, even when the man was there first.

Beatrice Alba, a lecturer at Deakin University, argues that despite being generally seen as polite and even romantic, these acts of chivalry – where men are excessively courteous to women simply because they are women – have a dark side.

“Psychologists refer to the paternalistic attitudes underlying these behaviors as benevolent sexism. Benevolent sexism involves the belief that men should cherish and protect women, and ‘put them on a pedestal.’ This is because women are viewed as being more morally pure, weaker, and in need of protection,” Alba explained.

It’s also important to note that research has found people higher on these attitudes also tend to be higher on hostile sexism, Alba argues. “Hostile sexism involves overtly negative and suspicious views of women – this is what people generally think about when they think of sexism.”

Benevolent sexism reinforces traditional gender roles about how women and men should relate to one another, and chivalrous acts may be understood as a manifestation of them. “It’s the same old problem that who we are or what we want should be predetermined by our sex rather than our own preferences and personalities,” Alba explained.

Both benevolent and hostile sexism are intertwined with systematic sexism, which, when put in this context, makes chivalry extremely problematic. Bored Panda reached out to Nicole Froio, a feminist writer who researches masculinity, sexual violence and the media.

Froio explained that systematic sexism is a term that refers to a “system of discrimination that targets women specifically for being women. So, for example, if a woman isn't promoted because her boss is afraid she will get pregnant and take time off, that's sexism.”

And while there's been a lot of work done towards building a world with better equality in terms of gender and minorities, Froio argues that there will be a long way to go as long as we keep doing things the same exact way.

“If we all committed to a better, more equitable world, this wouldn't be an issue, but it's difficult to do that. So yes, there's a long, long way to go,” she added.

When thinking of a more equitable world where equal rights are among the most valuable aspects of a strong and well-developed society, it’s interesting to think how chivalrous acts may (or may not) intervene with it. The answers may not be straightforward ones, and yet it’s the act of discussing these issues that matters.