Visit any university and you’ll likely meet a female who thinks there are no decent guys left in the world. The college party culture pushes men to choose single life over meaningful relationships, and nice guys finish last, right?
But the Network of Enlightened Women (NeW), a group that promotes education and leadership skills of conservative university women, would like to counter the idea that quality men are a dying breed. Starting March 1, NeW will host “Gentlemen’s Showcase,” a month-long event intended to honor college gentlemen.
“The Gentlemen’s Showcase seeks to restore dignity and respect between the sexes by honoring and recognizing gentleman,” says NeW’s website. “Gentlemanly behavior is rarely valued or deemed necessary. In turn, the respect for femininity is deteriorating…[T]he women of NeW believe that gentlemen still do exist on college campuses, and we want to honor those that stand against cultural norms and demonstrate gentlemanly behavior.”
NeW founder Karin Agness told The Daily Caller that the showcase, which will include a tribute event for specific gentlemen, aims to encourage gentlemanly behavior and positive relations between the genders.
“We wanted to do something positive to promote gentlemanly acts on campus,” Agness told TheDC. “This is a great way for us to encourage mutual respect between the sexes.”
Agness added that feminists frequently belittle men and come across as divisive.
“Too often feminists on campus degrade and put down men,” Agness told TheDC.
Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, told TheDC she gives kudos to NeW’s Gentlemen’s Showcase.
“Concerned Women for America supports young women in their search for men deserving of their love, respect and admiration,” Nance told TheDC.
The parent of a little boy, Nance says it’s important to teach good manners to young men.
“As a mom of a ten year old son, I sincerely believe it’s our duty to train our boys to be good men, husbands and fathers.,” Nance told TheDC. “I also believe that chivalry is alive as long as we as women demand it and settle for nothing less. You go girls.”
Lisa Potter, a communications spokesperson for pro-men’s health movement Movember, told TheDC that Gentlemen’s Showcase is a “cool endeavor” and “absolutely a good thing.”
“We are always pushing that message among college students, trying to get them invigorated about a number of things, and chivalry is a great one,” Potter told TheDC. “I don’t think its ever too late to learn how to be more chivalrous.”
Potter said she liked the idea of cooperation and amicable gender relations.
“We can get so much more accomplished if we work together and focus on the positive to help each other and our selves, dweling on stereotypes doesn’t move the needle to progress,” Potter told TheDC.
When asked how she’d respond to the claim that chivalry has gone extinct, Potter said positive individuals will have no trouble detecting the good men of the world.
“I did see that on a video where a girl said she’d never met a gentleman before, but I think if [you] don’t look for it, you don’t see it,” Potter told TheDC. “If you yourself are in a positive place and open to seeing the good, you will see you’re surrounded by chivalry.”
The Gentlemen’s Showcase comes the month after V-Day, an anti-violence, pro-women organization started by “The Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler, held events at college campuses across the country. V-Day urges supporters to watch productions of “The Vagina Monologues,” and group representatives have been known to distribute chocolate vagina’s on college campuses.
The Gentlemen’s Showcase takes a different approach and will begin in March as a way to kick start spring, Agness said.