Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 88
- 2
What is this place?
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
If in doubt, please post it!
Rules
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule

Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I have been accused of posting sexual topics in this thread in order to satisfy a prurient interest. Let's lean into the accusation. >:-)
A cursory search for "skirt waist height" on Google* indicates that the waist of a skirt generally is supposed to be placed near the woman's natural waist/bellybutton. A cursory search for "skirt midriff standing" on Gelbooru indicates that this style is followed surprisingly often (with the skirt waist just barely below the bellybutton) even in erotic art, where the woman is skinny and there is no incentive to hide a bulging belly. I find this somewhat interesting in contrast with the normal practice for a man, who normally will put the pants waist way down at the hip bone, significantly below the bellybutton (at least in my personal experience), and will put it up at the waist/bellybutton only if his belly bulge is huge. (Or maybe I'm out of touch with men's fashion. But to me wearing the pants waist way above the hip bone seems rather uncomfortable.)
On a somewhat related topic, one item that has confused me for a long time in erotic art is the popularity of outfits (most prominently the iconic "bunny suit", but also many one-piece swimsuits and bikini bottoms) where the edge of the fabric rises from the crotch at a very steep angle (i. e., straight to a point lying above the hip bone), rather than a gentler, almost flat angle (to a point lying in the middle of the hip bone, or even below it) that to me seems much more alluring. But I guess it's just a case of differing tastes. (Also, I guess a predominantly-horizontal bikini bottom might have trouble actually staying up IRL, since a belt cannot be used with it.)
*Hilariously, most of the Reddit results of this search are from transgender and nonbinary subreddits, with only a few from sewing subreddits.
A few weeks ago, after dabbling with local LLMs, I tried my hand at (non-AI-assisted) pornographic fiction. The result was two of the most excruciatingly boring """erotic""" stories imaginable (1 2). However, it's somewhat interesting to compare these two stories from year 2026 to two significantly better stories that I was inspired to write back in 2018 and 2017 by prompts found on 4chan's /trash/ board. Probably, the entire difference can be explained by the hypothesis that my brain has been completely fried by depression since 2022.
I was visiting my psychiatrist uncle while his dad was over. As part of Standard Indian Hospitality, they tried offloading their spare wardrobe onto me. This included a pair of high-waisted grandpa trousers.
I'm sold. They're surprisingly comfy, look good on me, and go with everything. Highly recommend.
The incredibly loud and sequined suits? Less so, but you take the good with the bad.
My understanding is that these exist for men with no hips after their ass shrinks from old age.
cough
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link