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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026

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There is no mechanism available to "extend the social contract obligations to women, and all that entails." The male gender role is primarily constructed by social pressures, not through any kind of law or policy (hypothetical conscription notwithstanding). And the role that women collectively imagine for men forms something much more strongly coherent than the role men collectively imagine for women. Both can turn down their respective roles in an instant merely by choosing to; men face far more social consequence from that choice, though, so they choose not to and learn either to shut up and accept their role or to celebrate it.

That depends on the society. There have been plenty of social contracts and there are plenty of social contracts that have absolutely no problem placing obligations on women.

On the other hand, plenty of women actually like babies, especially their own. More than men who like war, probably.

Anyone will go to war for a cause they’re vested in. I’m not going to join the military to become a drone operator hunting for some hideout in Iran. If the Russians were about to invade my hometown, I’d become a first rate neocon on the other hand.

If the Russians were about to invade my hometown, I’d become a first rate neocon on the other hand.

It's a bit late at that point.

Pretty sure I’m not Ukrainian. They’d have a hard time setting one inch on our land.