November 5, 2011   8 notes

“ The reason I think it’s worth talking about a return to chivalry is because its utter absence online makes it a hostile environment for women. There is a bitter, cold, vicious interpretation of ‘equality’ that many bitter, cold, vicious men enjoy holding. “We’re equal? Well, then I’m going to talk to you like we’re in a maximum security all-male prison.” I think the kind of hate-speech directed at women should be as taboo as racism, and it’s not. I think a culture of chivalry—one arising from gratitude for the fact that women go through the agony of childbirth and periods and all that incredibly unfair shite—is possibly one way of making the online world a nicer place. And not just for women. Improve the conversation in that area, and it may improve elsewhere. Anyway, sorry for the rant and the twitlonger link. ”

I’m not particularly keen on the word chivalry - anyone who’s had a gutful of Chretien de Troyes knows it has little to do with gratitude, and a lot more to do with the twin mediaeval cultures of fear and shame - neither of which did much for women. Can I suggest plain old ‘good manners’ as an alternative?

Graham Linehan.

(I spared y’all the TwitLonger link by posting here…)

(via moorehn)

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