It's built into men to be protective, or at least into the ones who should be allowed to breed. It's a good survival/courtship strategy when viewed from outside of the slightly less modern perspective. I try to be chivalrous in my every day life.

That being said, the kind of girls I'm attracted to are gear heads and she-geeks whos' idea of a good time is a week camping out of the survival bag, or an afternoon spent burning up a thousand rounds of WWII era ammunition on the range, and has a strong sense of honor and a wide survivor streak.

I don't think the two concepts are incompatable. If I ever find someone, and a guy is running his mouth about her, I'm likely to toss him into traffic. If the roles are reversed, I plan on bailing her out for pretty much the same reason. I feel no shame in admiting that I've gone to my little sister and said "could you look at my car? I swear, I didn't hit it." This is the same little sister who's ex'es have been told "look, if I find out you were even thinking loudly about annoying her, you'll want to find a nice hole in a far country." Chivalry can go both ways, I think. I don't NEED to be helped most of the time, and I wouldn't want to have to help someone most of the time. But there is difference between NEEDING help and WANTING it.

Oh, and you can't deny that most women find us handy for dealing with items on the tops shelf. Sure you can find a ladder or one of those grabby sticks, but we're convenient. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />