site banner

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 30, 2026

This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.

Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.

We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:

  • Shaming.

  • Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.

  • Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.

  • Recruiting for a cause.

  • Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.

In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:

  • Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.

  • Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.

  • Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.

  • Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.

On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.

5
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Attraction isn’t a choice, yet how many relationships today are the product of genuine mutual attraction? Sex work still happens among all kinds of parties and only one side is typically paid for it, precisely because the exchange isn’t normal and mutually desirable. Men pay for it either way, it’s called “marriage.” Only a woman who gives it up at absolutely no cost or price to the other party can be said to be doing it out of attraction. Attraction isn’t a necessary driving force for getting the two genders on with each other, but for the fact that the controls which typically mediated those arrangements got washed away beginning in the 1960’s. Inb4 some jagoff says “relations between the two weren’t a utopia back then either!” Yes, but that’s not the point.

Everyone will eventually put their hand on the stove and play with fire if there’s no downstream consequence to them doing so. If no measures were taken to prevent anyone from walking into a bank vault and taking whatever they wanted, you’d see a ‘massive’ upsurge overnight in the amount of ‘normal’ and ‘ethical’ people who engage in the activity. There’s nothing that would prevent even me from doing it, save for my own piety, which is absolutely at odds with the prudential value of my own self-interest. But “good will” is no way to predicate a society upon. If there were zero consequences to any man who chose to beat a woman for any reason he wanted to, you’d see things absolutely flip the other way and there would be enormous compromises on attraction. Only the utmost dysfunctional people would stay.

All individuals have their hidden kinks and preferences but that’s a very insignificant comparison to the ‘real’ violence they’d experience if they dreaded coming home every night because they didn’t know what was going to happen. You need to revive the social controls that keep both parties in check and on their best behavior. Punish dissent and detractors on both sides.