Journalist David Molloy wrote, “Traditional chivalry is a subtle form of sexism despite its ‘seemingly positive’ qualities.” The researchers in the article argue that the acts men see as chivalric like opening the door, carrying a women’s bag, or giving up their seat are acts that imply that women can’t perform the tasks themselves without help from a male.

Authors wrote, “The seemingly positive and flattering qualities, embedded within normative and therefore unnoticed or unacknowledged unequal gender relations, hides the harm benevolent sexism can promote and encourages its endorsement”