An article has appeared in the NZ media this morningabout some absolutely absurd claims that some NZ academics are now making about men who show respect for women by opening doors, etc, for them. It also makes laughable claims about the women who accept such behavior as normal, even going so far as to suggest that they have a psychological disorder.
Here’s what the article has to say:

“Benevolent sexism has been identified as the flip side of the “hostile” sexism that would banish women to the kitchen.
It’s a distincition that has been looked at by Auckland University researchers in a survey of the attitudes of more than 6500 New Zealanders.
Study author Matthew Hammond said benevolent sexism portrays women as “fragile and delicate and in need of protection” and emphasised their emotional qualities.
The study found that many women embraced benevolent sexism. Those women were also more likely to be psychologically “entitled” – a symptom of a narcissistic personality where people feel they are deserving or more special than others.

Hammond said it was predicted the two traits would go together as benevolent sexism appeared to “promise” things to women.”
I am reminded of the quote by Chesterton (I think) who once quipped something along the lines of ‘there is no idea so stupid that it hasn’t yet been proposed by an academic’.
When this article states: “benevolent sexism has been identified”, what it really means is “benevolent sexism has been made up to suit some confused ideology about human gender”.
I am proud to say that I practice ‘benevolent sexism’.
I also practice these other following forms of benevolence:
‘Benevolent ageism’ – hating on aged persons by offering to assist them up stairs, or letting them go first in lines, etc.’
‘Benevolent parentism’ – hating on parents with young children by letting them go first in supermarket ques, or helping that mother with a baby and screaming toddler to load her shopping into the trolley, etc.
‘Benevolent driverism’ – hating on drivers waiting on side streets, other lanes, etc, by making a space for them to enter traffic ahead of me, etc.
‘Benevolent neighborism’ – hating on my neighbors by mowing their berm when I mow my own lawns, etc.
I’m sorry Matthew Hammond, but I would humbly suggest that you, your confrères and your disciples, and not the vast majority of the population, are the ones who might actually be suffering from some sort of psychological condition – one where people become delusional and start seeing things that aren’t really there.
I don’t open doors, or practice other acts of chivalry towards women because I look at them and think: ‘geez, she looks like a frail weakling incapable of scaling the great heights of masculine awesomeness which gives us the muscular strength that females lack for door opening prowess. I better open this door for her before her poor tiny confused female brain makes her cry because it can’t figure out the engineering dynamics of door opening.’
No, instead when I look at women I see the feminine genius. A genius so profoundly complex, important and valuable that I adore it. I adore the feminine genius because I am a real man who has not had his masculine awareness dulled by erroneous ideologies about gender, or seriously messed up by pornography-fueled predatory attitudes towards women.
As a real man I know that for my masculinity to scale the heights of greatness, I depend totally on the feminine genius to become the best that a man can ever be – in much the same way that I depend on oxygen to keep on living.
Without the complimentary and amazing feminine genius I can never be a real man. Instead I am doomed to be nothing more than the masculine equivalent of a rōnin – the Japanese name for a samurai without a master to lead him, a term which literally means “wave man” because he is adrift without direction and purpose.
I open doors for women because I know they deserve my profound adoration and selfless love. My tiny act of sacrifice is my way of saying ‘I am in awe of your feminine genius and all that I owe to it as a man’.
Any man who tries to tell you to stop opening doors for women is unvirtuous and selfish – he is not a real man. Do not listen to him.
Any person who tells you that opening doors for women makes you a hater or belittler of women and femininity is tragically confused and desperately out of touch with reality.
Ladies, not only do you have every right to expect such respect and selflessness from the men who encounter your presence, but you should be extremely worried by any person lobbying for a world where men walk past women with a blind ignorance to your female greatness.
Such a world would be a truly scary place, and definitely not the world I would want my daughters to grow up in – their feminine genius deserves far better than cold indifference. This article was first published on Brendan Malone's blog, The Leading Edge.