over one third of men would never help a woman struggling with a baby buggy on stairs

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94. Let's be clear about one thing. Chivalry is not about being nice to women.

Chivalry, from chevalier, the French word for "knight," is about battlefield conduct and the warrior ethos. When mounted warfare began in 10th c. France with the invention of iron horse shoes, stirrups, and the medieval saddle, a warrior philosophy developed among the new chevalier class. Chivalry was about being strong of body, brave, noble, and loyal. Knights began training at age seven and as young men, they were very good at killing.

The idea of "courtly love" being an expression of chivalry is based on modern misunderstanding of expressions of love directed by knights to noble women. The expressions were actually statements of loyalty and alliance as well as petitions for political favor. Such statements were expressed publicly in the language of love, which modern readers have misinterpreted as private, erotic expressions. The modern idea of chivalry as a kind of deference by men to women (and not only to ladies) comes from 19th c. romantic literature and not anything that actually had to do with chivalry.