With Valentines Day right around the corner many of us single ladies prepare ourselves for another year of a girls-night-in watching rom coms and eating bars of chocolate while nursing that bottle of white wine. While some women might feel that February 14th is the perfect day to sulk about being single, I say no because, well, ladies relationships may in fact be extinct.
Maybe it’s not your fault that you aren’t pretty or funny enough to find a guy on campus to date, maybe it’s just the fact that traditional relationships aren’t so traditional anymore.
The New York Times published an article last month called, “The End of Courtship?” and ever since reading it I’ve been thinking nonstop about courtship and today’s dating culture. According to the article on courtship, calling someone on the telephone and asking him or her on a date is a thing of the past. The dating culture has shifted away from these traditional manners and has instead evolved to text messages and Facebook posts. Not only are text messages difficult to interpret, but also less and less effort is being made to actually plan real dates.
It is clear to many of us that the definition of a date has become a lot looser in the past few years, and maybe that’s okay. While I agree that traditional ways of dating are completely out of date, I am convinced that chivalry is not dead!
Whether or not chivalry is dead remains a constant contention in society today. But calling chivalry dead is quite the bold move. Even though men’s and women’s expectations of one another have changed over the years, chivalry is not dead. In the sense of men being polite and courteous to women, chivalry is alive. The vast majority of the guys I meet are respectful and well mannered. Everyday I see men holding doors open for women, buying flowers for their girlfriends and paying for the meal when they are out on a date. Chivalry may be different from what it once was, but it certainly it not dead.
If we attempt as a society to try and keep some of the traditions of dating alive, then I have faith relationships will still be here in ten years. Maybe the way we date has changed, but companionship is something we all seek, especially around Valentines Day, so while you may be one of the many single ladies enjoying a quiet evening in on the 14th, have a little faith that relationships are in fact not extinct and keep on dreaming of prince charming… I know I am.