Why does the man walk in front? That would bug me. How do you carry on a conversation? Hold hands?

The man opens the door. Woman goes through and steps to the opposite side of where you are holding the door. So you open the door for me, you are on my right. I step through the door and then to the left. I stop, you come through and continue and I follow. There are lots of reasons for this. One is that it’s a sort of protective measure for the lady. Another Ive read is that the man enters first and takes care of whatever arrangements such as talking to the host in a restaurant etc. another Ive heard is that it stems from when women wore long thing dresses and it would be difficult for a man to walk behind her and not step on her clothing.

I think it’s nice to follow some of these sort of protocols. I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary and people should do what they think is appropriate and comfortable.

I walk wherever I want to, and I hold the door for anybody.

I always open the door and allow the lady to go in first -just in case there are any assassin's waiting inside
Likewise when a lady walks down the street I am dually drive alongside

The lady should always stop at the door .

The holding the door bit , reverts to a period of time , before hinges . Picture in your mind , the Queen , pregnant with the King's heir , progressing through the castle , with heavy doors , attached by leather straps , not metal hinges . She's likely to suffer miscarriage after miscarriage . The King needs an heir . Orders go out . Open the doors (and close them) . I've never heard the man walks in front , but I have been taught , on a sidewalk , the man walks on the side closest to the road . This had to do with two things . One , there is likely to be more damage from the road side , whether from an accidental horse/wagon or from an intentional hit and run con artist . The other consideration was the servants would empty the bed pans by tossing the night's accumulation out through the upper story window . Sometimes there was a warning , "Look out below ."
I moved to a new job at work , and had been there , perhaps a year and a half, and was approaching the office , when one of the men , politely held the door for me , then commented , you see , this is why men get paid more than women for the same job . I responded that in the year and a half I'd been there , this was the first time anyone had held the door for me , however , I had held the door for men carrying things , therefore , didn't he think I should be the one earning more for the same job ?