Do dating conventions need updating in light of improved gender equality?

nucleargirl

yeah the door thing... its nice when you are with a guy you like, but when guys insist on rushing ahead to open the door for you on a daily basis... it gets a bit annoying cos I'm also capable of opening a door!

TheStatutoryApe

I've found that while typical social convention on how women are treated seems to have changed rather significantly the conventions on how to treat men have not changed so much.

Its funny. I have seen a number of conversations where people bring up unfair treatment of men based on sexist social conventions and they suggest creating some sort of group or movement for the purpose of highlighting this problem. Feminists then interject, complain that many such organizations already exist and tend to be excuses for anti-feminist ranting, and say that Feminism (despite what one may think based on the name) already deals with this, that it is all about gender equality, that it does indeed highlight the sort of harm that traditional gender roles for cause for males as well. When they are asked "Well what is it that they are doing about this then? I have never seen these things brought up before." they tend to respond "Not our problem, maybe you should do something about that."

lisab

I take a different view. If a man holds a door open for me, it's not because he thinks I'm incapable. There is no intrinsic meaning to his actions, other than a nod of respect for me.

Where I work, some guys will not swear in front of me. I interpret that the same way - it's a way to show respect. In no way does it affect how capable they think I am in my job.

Evo

I many office buildings, there are two sets of doors, if a man holds the first door open for me, I will hold the second open for him.

CaptFirePanda

I'm guilty of holding the door open for women (I'll hold the door open for anyone, actually). Sometimes, I'm doing it so I get to check out the view from behind....

MarcoD

Weirdo.

Mépris

That is ridiculous!

As for creating a group against this, frankly, I don't think I could be bothered being a part of it. Sounds too much like an MBS for my liking...

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With regards to holding doors or allowing the person next to me to go through it first, I do it for anyone, irrespective of sex. (or whether I'm attracted to them)

There was a conversation on the matter of "Who pays for the dates?" on another thread here and I agree that each party paying for half of the bill is a very good way to go. I also find that paying for only what eats/drinks is "okay" if one is at one of those fast-food joints (like, KFC), where people wait in line to order and get their food. That way, ordering separately can be done with more fluidity, if you will.