Walking On The Guy Side And Other 21st Century Questions Of Chivalry

By Elizabeth Shore

I was walking down a city street recently with a male friend. He was on the interior side of the sidewalk, closest to the buildings, and I was on the outside, closest to the street. When I noticed how we were situatedI asked, somewhat jokingly, whether we should switch so that he could be on the “guy side” of the sidewalk. His response was a puzzled stare before asking what I meant.

I’ve always assumed – naively, as it turns out – that everyone knows what the guy side of the...