I just thought I’d say that someone offered me his seat yesterday on BART (which I accepted). It was just some young guy in his ‘20s. I didn’t see it as “chivalrous”, I saw it as polite and of course I appreciated it. I guess I looked pretty tired and pathetic, not to mention I was with a bike that is still too big for me. And of course he didn’t have to do it; I wasn’t standing there thinking “oh, he better give me his seat. I need it more!”.
But I don’t prefer most other acts of “chivalry”. If my boyfriend started opening car doors for me and walking on the curb side of the sidewalk on purpose, I would think it weird. It’s not what I like. There are so many other things he does that I love; I don’t need him to do things for me that I can do myself.
Also, @rooeytoo, I always push the door open extra and hold onto it when someone is coming in behind me so they don’t have to grab the door and open it again, but I don’t step outside of the doorway and let other people go in first.
Furthermore, the word sexist has two definitions. “Chivalry” matches the first definition: behavior conforming to traditional gender roles. Nowhere in that definition does it say “evil” or “bad”.