Tuesday, May 11, 2010
quicko: chivalry
Australian men are not known for their chivalry. Case in point: a couple weeks ago I was riding home at night on a crowded bus, carrying some stuff. I'd walked to the back and no one offered me a seat. After a minute or so, though, one guy asked if I'd like to sit down -- in (are you ready for it?) an American accent. I gladly took the seat, and we chatted happily (though not, I hasten to point out, loudly) in American accents all the way home.
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4 comments:
Blegh. Since when did chivalry have anything to do with seats? Please don’t answer that, it’s not wise to get me started on this one.
Australian men aren’t allowed to offer their seats to women because it’s sexist to imply that a woman would need a seat more than a man would. We’re very big on equal rights and equal treatment here. It’s getting to the stage where if your company employs more men than women (especially in upper management positions), the government is going to come around and ask you to justify yourself. So you’ll have to excuse us poor unchivalrous Aussie males if we don’t buy the argument that women are less capable of standing up than we are. If we did buy it, we’d get in trouble.
Don't buy it. Give me your seat and we'll talk.
Oh dear - that is sad to hear! Booo to non chivalrous males! Don't they realise it makes them about 10 times more handsome when they do sweet things like let you walk through the door first? Someone should tell them!
On the other hand, it is required to give up your seat to a disabled person, an obviously pregnant woman or any adult-paying passenger if you are travelling on a child / student ticket. I think that if you are a pregnant or disabled student then it must cancel out and you don't have to stand. :-)
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