Women and Children First: Law or Convention?

[Shadow]

Anybody who has seen James Cameron's Titanic (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=12rs0eaf6/EXP=1328159993/**http%3A//movies.yahoo.com/photos/movie-stills/gallery/2946/titanic-stills), about the 1912 sinking of the eponymous ocean liner knows that when a ship is sinking, women and children have first dibs on the lifeboats. The recent capsizing of a cruise ship off the coast of Italy, which killed at least 11 passengers (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=13fn27tr9/EXP=1328159993/**http%3A//gma.yahoo.com/cruise-ship-wreck-search-suspended-ship-moves-045931732--abc-news.html), has inspired many to ask if "women and children first" is an official rule or just a popular convention. Here's the scoop.
During an evacuation, men may choose to give up their seats on lifeboats to women and children, but there is no official maritime rule that mandates they must do so. An article from the BBC (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=11v6ssteh/EXP=1328159993/**http%3A//www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16576289) helps explain the process that crews follow when a ship is in danger of sinking.
Upon boarding, all passengers are assigned a lifeboat based on the location of their cabins. If an accident should occur, it is the captain's decision whether or not to evacuate the vessel. The BBC quotes Rob Ashdown, operations director at the European Cruise Council, who says men on a sinking ship have no legal obligation to step aside.
The tradition, as an explainer from Slate (http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/SIG=14skhhb8e/EXP=1328159993/**http%3A//www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/01/costa_concordia_sinking_what_s_the_etiquette_for_a bandoning_ship_.html) speculates, may have begun when the HMS Birkenhead sank in 1852. "The soldiers reportedly stood at attention while the women and children were loaded into life boats. The overwhelming majority of the men died in an act that contemporary writers called "a piece of pure and exalted manhood."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/women-children-first-law-convention-220256083.html

[Thunderknuckles]

A dying convention and you have liberalism to thank for it. Why should any man sacrifice his life for a woman? She's no different than a man. Let her find her own life boat. No room? Too bad, everyone for themselves.

[Shadow]

A dying convention and you have liberalism to thank for it. Why should any man sacrifice his life for a woman? She's no different than a man. Let her find her own life boat. No room? Too bad, everyone for themselves.

Yep...chivalry is definately dying in today's society. Along with honor,respect and common courtesy..you see it every day. We as a society have definately become selfish little bastards.

Today's society does seem to think that everyone else owes them and needs to "earn" their honor and respect. When giving it to others is not a sign of weakness and should be a given IMO.

[DragonStryk72]

Yep...chivalry is definately dying in today's society. Along with honor,respect and common courtesy..you see it every day. We as a society have definately become selfish little bastards.

Today's society does seem to think that everyone else owes them and needs to "earn" their honor and respect. When giving it to others is not a sign of weakness and should be a given IMO.

In general, it's a convention. Men, on the whole, have a natural desire to protect women, and all of us have the natural desire to protect children. Combine that with the idea that Children generally have their mom along on ships, and you can see how it would get going. Me, I would give up my lifeboat, it's just who I am. I'm trained for emergencies, so I'd be trying to assist in getting as many people as possible off the ship.

I still believe in chivalry, although a version adapted to the standards of today. I hold open doors, will step in to defend physically or verbally, and so on and so forth.

[cadet]

This is gonna be a little off subject.

But with all the women and children first got me thinking.

I don't think chivalry is quite dead. I hold the door and help people as often as I can, and at my school (Small mid-western) there's a lot of nice people.

But what i hate about the chivalry here is, I had a bunch of girls hold the door for me. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared for a minute.

Before you say it, yeah yeah we're all equal and stuff. But... when did men loose that responsibility to women?

also before you say it, I'm not sexist, i just think that guys are supposed to do a lot more courtesy, you know, like way back when, when guys would stand on the sidewalk closest to the houses (before plumbing) just in case somebody threw $h!t out the window.

[Little-Acorn]

Where do you get the idea that chivalry is fading or dying out?

I hold the door for women all the time. So do most of the men I know.

Maybe you need to start hanging around with a different group.

BTW, I don't hold the door for a lady because she's a lady. I do it because I'm a gentleman.

I also hold the door for a man who's about to go thru it.