Guys...Do You Open the Door for a Girl?

@lostinspice yeah... but that's not the same.

Well - she said her daughter wanted the car door opening. So pretty similar...
Perhaps the guy has high functioning autism?

@lostinspice I didn't hear any indication of that...

@lostinspice I consider myself an independent, strong woman, able to stand on my own two feet. And my daughters have been brought up the same way.
I totally understand why people don't open doors nor want doors opened for them. But I grew up where people do things for others not because the other is incapable, but because they want to. Often it's the small gestures that mean the most.

Do you do it for men?

@SW-User his very literal answer "why, can't you do it yourself?" would've had my autidar on high. But then I work with special needs kids, married an autistic man, and have an autistic daughter so I'm pretty good at aspie spotting.

@lostinspice It just strikes me as a selfish person... who's oblivious to the most common norms.

@lostinspice As a matter of fact I often open the door for my husband. When I go to the grocery store I will take the shopping cart back to the store for a stranger. My daughters catch the bus home. They have carried bags home for our neighbors, not because it was too heavy, but just to be courteous.
As an elementary teacher, my students carry things for teachers from the car even if it is light enough for the teacher to carry. They hold the cafeteria door open when someone is behind them even though the person is capable of opening the door themselves. They offer to do these gestures, not out of obligation or because the other person is incapable, but out of common courtesy and to make the person feel special. These random acts of kindness becomes routine and a part of who they are.

I commend you for working with special needs children. I have worked with many autistic children and know what a challenge that is. Good luck to you!

I am not saying I don't open doors for people, give up my seat or help them out because I do, but I would feel very odd sitting in a car whilst someone else walked around the side of it to open the door I was sat right next to, and that sort of mannered courtesy is part of an everyday sexism mindset. Cultural norms also vary a lot. About 90% of the kids at the school I work in are Mipuri Pakistani and their parents don't usually say thank you if we serve them a drink at a school event. It's just not part of their culture.

Equal rights don't mean men and women are expected to act and think exactly alike. My husband and I share 50% in our relationship, but that doesn't mean we treat each other the same way. Men and women are NOT the same...and I wouldn't want it any other way.

We are not the same, I agree, and one of the things that is different is that women were once part of a man's goods & chattels because women were not considered capable of self determination nor physically able to withstand normal life. Many customs are from an era when this was held to be true and perpetuate this belief.