What does the Code of Chivalry have in common with the Sydney Gay Mardi Gras?
Perhaps for most people there is a question prior to this. What is the code of chivarly? Note that I have used the definite article here; I am talking about the historical Code of Chivalry, a code that strongly influenced men’s behaviour in the West until the 1960s, regardless of whether they adhered to it or not. Indeed, an understanding of and a feel for the code was often a silent judge of men’s behaviour. The anticipated shame of failing the code was a brake on the sort of bad behaviour men are typically given to. And I don’t mean just violence and bullying. When maleness is corrupted, manifestations of that corruption are not restricted to violence. It is most pitifully manifested in the collapse of male identity. But what’s the point of my raising the subject of chivalry? The media is constantly full of the bad behaviour of men, but in recent months the incidence of mindless cowardly violence has appeared on a steep upward curve, despite constant expressions of community outrage
