Whenever the demon of nostalgia rears its nauseating head, it’s only a matter of time before someone points out “chivalry is dead.”The next time this happens, stop whatever you’re doing, look them in the eye and say “good riddance.”Traditional wisdom tells us to not speak ill of the deceased, but traditional wisdom is exactly what I’m speaking ill of.The 20th century brought tremendous advances for women.With suffrage, reproductive rights, protection from domestic violence, Title IX, the WNBA, Oprah Winfrey’s talk show, talk of Paris Hilton’s showings and Sarah Palin’s vice presidential run, we stand significantly closer to “gender equality” than we did a hundred years ago (although we were slightly closer before the world knew women could be named “Bristol”).For better or worse, the dynamic of male-female interaction has been changed forever.And this is the crucial plot point the nostalgic omit in their second-hand, cliff-notes synopsis of the “good old days.”Gender equality and chivalry are two sumo wrestlers intent on flinging the other outside the boundaries of social acceptability.Equality is winning the fight, and chivalry will only survive for as long as we tolerate hypocrisy.Equals don’t demand special treatment.Now don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I’ll play the doorstop.If anyone — regardless of sex — carries something heavy, I might take a second out of my day to help.Some doors are more easily opened from one direction or another, and I might give a well-timed nudge when a stranger is on the wrong end of hydraulics.To be clear, I do these things, not because I have to, but because I want to.And occasionally if I’m on my way to class — and an especially good-looking female follows — I’ll snap the door shut behind me and sing, “fatty, fatty, two by four, can’t get through the schoolhouse door.”Not because I have to, but because I want to.When we were young, we had to conform to the rules we were given, no matter how hypocritical they seemed.But we’re grown up now.We get to replace the brain-smattering inconsistencies of our youth with congruency. We get to choose which rules we follow.Excluding Daily Reveille columnist Dini Parayitam, women choose to be strong, independent and wear Hillary Clinton-style powersuits.You can blame it on loosening morals, feminism, the pill and text messaging.You can long for the days of repression when women were dainty flowers incapable of independence, and men had to prove they could be dependable, subservient providers by picking up the tab and leaving confident answering machine messages.You can try to fight social change. Or you can save your energy and learn to thrive in society’s new social order.Chivalry is dead — good riddance to bad rubbish.The pretense of privilege is a relic of a bygone era. It’s time women gave it up, and it’s time men stopped encouraging them.Gentlemen, the next time you sense a girl wants you to take the check, lean back in your seat and pre-emptively thank her for treating you.Have fun with it.I don’t have time to split ponytails over which side of the sidewalk to walk on. If we go out to dinner, we’re splitting the bill.If that makes me less attractive, then those unique, entitled snowflakes can all run back to their fathers.The world has changed.Adapt, or worthy males will select someone else.It’s only natural. Daniel Morgan is a 21-year-old economics junior from Baton Rouge.——Contact Daniel Morgan at [email protected]