The classic ‘gentleman’ trope

There are feminists, such as Greer, who believe that women have to live up to the expectations imposed on them by a ‘Eternal Feminine’ stereotype. She suggests that women must be 'the sexual object sought by all men'.¹ This suggests that men are obsessed with sex and that this is all they think about when interacting/looking at women. It also gives women more to live up to by creating the impression that there are no more ‘gentlemen’ left in the world - it’s a dying trope. Considering the elements of the ‘gentleman’ stereotype - opening doors for a women, standing as they approach the dining table and giving a woman his coat if she’s cold - Hiddleston could be called a contemporary gentleman. The following pictures are examples of how the media represent him as this.

The problem is that today’s society doesn’t accept this as common practice any more and thus it loses value. Caitlin Moran suggests that some men and women think that ‘all chivalry was essentially men patronising women, and implying they were weak and helpless’.² In contrast, we see members of Hiddleston’s fandom calling for these traditions to come back as they are attractive traits to them. Despite the idea that this behaviour patronises women, it also makes them feel valued and respected.

---

1 Greer, G., 1970, The Female Eunuch, Great Britain: MacGibbon and Kee Ltd.^↩
2 Moran, C., 2012, Moranthology, UK: Ebury Press. ^↩