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Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 5, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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However, I do think the taboo is a historical feature of our society, not an eternal dynamic of sexual competition.

The taboo? Yes. I guess the better way to put my position is that the impulse is natural but whether there's an enforced taboo varies by culture. Same with homosexuality and all sorts of other things.

Women I know loathe the idea of a younger second wife (enough that my mom warned me against it lol) and probably always have* but there's no strong taboo yet, since there's a counter-vailing norm for polygamy and many men aren't really inclined to care about the complaints of women.

The legacy package of Western monogamy (no premarital sex, til death we part, no widowers chasing young wives) was selected and conquered the world because of how it changed the behavior of males.

I don't know if I would go that far in establishing a causal link between this and Western dominance** but I know that there are at least scholars I respect that do (e.g. Joseph Henrich)

* Cross-pollination with the West in the colonial era muddies the waters but I don't think the British invented the sense of grievance I've seen.

** One could argue that Western dominance led to replacing old norms with Western-flavored ones (e.g. like with Christianity)