"Chivalry is outdated": Sebastien Garcin on opening safer spaces, not doors
His TEDxLuxembourgCityWomen talk has commenters debating door-holding, roadside walking and what men should do instead.
TEDx TalksStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 52,959 views a day, 89 times a normal first day on this channel (595).
Chivalry is outdated. Here's what to do instead. | Sebastien Garcin | TEDxLuxembourgCityWomen
Sebastien Garcin used to think holding the door made him a good man. His TEDx talk is about the day he stopped being so sure, and in its first eleven hours it drew close to 35,000 views. For a channel where a fresh talk usually collects a few hundred views on its first day, that is a long way out of the ordinary.
The talk was given at TEDxLuxembourgCityWomen. The description says Garcin grew up believing in chivalry until feminist writers showed him what they call benevolent sexism: kindness that quietly assumes women need looking after. He tells it through a personal story and ends on a question: what if modern chivalry meant opening safer spaces rather than doors? Garcin spent years in large companies before founding Men at Work, which aims to turn men into agents of change inside organizations.
The comment section is small but unusually lively for a TEDx debut, and it argues. One reader returns to an old manners guide Garcin quotes and its line about who gets to drive the car, insisting such rules were about responsibility and promising to keep walking on the traffic side of the pavement. Another pushes from the other direction, rejecting any picture of women as fragile. And the most direct question is simply which habits men should practice more.
The same day brought another talk on gender and power, Seema Hingorani's TEDxPenn account of bringing young women into investing. It drew around a thousand views. The door-holding question went much further.
Published on Trari
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What viewers say
What allyship behaviors do you think men should practice more?
@TEDxSee it on YouTubeTreat others like you'd like them to treat you.
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- Channel
- TEDx Talks
- Subscribers
- 44,700,000
- Channel views, pace per day
- 2,186,802 (on a normal day: 1,979,426)
- Video published
- October 5, 2026
- Video views so far
- 34,846 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 52,959
The numbers
A talk from a Luxembourg event, running far ahead of how TEDx debuts usually start.
💡 Test your knowledge
The word "chivalry" comes from the Old French word for which thing?
Chivalry comes from Old French chevalerie, from cheval, meaning horse, since knights were mounted warriors.
