Let's face facts: It's simply not fair for us, as modern American women, to demand chivalry and equality. The two are almost entirely contradictory. You cannot expect a man to think of you as strong when you cry out for help every time you are faced with a task that requires a tiny bit of grit. You cannot expect a man to think of you as independent if you get visibly offended when he doesn't open the door for you. You cannot expect a man to respect your employment income when you constantly assume it is his responsibility to pay for everything, on every date, regardless of how long you have been together.
If you want to be treated as equal to a man, then act as if you are equal. If you play the part of the "weaker sex," you deserve to be treated as a weaker person.
Most often, I think about this when I hear about incidents of domestic violence. I am not talking about those sad occasions when one person in a relationship is abusive toward the other, unprovoked. That's wrong, regardless of who is the abuser. Rather, I'm talking about those times when a woman hits, punches, or abuses her male partner and then has him arrested for assault & battery when he fights back. Really? How is that at all fair?
Ladies, it is no longer acceptable—really, never has been, in my opinion—for you to think that you can be physically violent toward a man and then expect to hide behind your femininity as protection from retaliation. If you are tough enough to hit a man, then you better make sure you are also tough enough to take the hit-back.
In the end, I think that most of the focus of "Womens' Liberation" has been focused in the wrong direction. We have come a long way toward equality, and we should continue to press onward toward full equality with men. Along the way, however, I think we ought to be kind enough to liberate men from the unfair double standards of an outdated system of chivalry and "kept" women.
