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.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
As I've argued before, if you go on /r/MTF and take a shot whenever you see a post which boils down to "why won't cis lesbians fuck me even though I identify as a woman?", you'll be dead of alcohol poisoning before the day is out. MtF spaces and incel spaces are alike in that they largely consist of male heterosexuals complaining about feeling sexually frustrated.
It's also a men's rights movement in a very literal sense in that it's a subset of men demanding special privileges. The reason I characterise it as such is that it's primarily asymmetric: while trans-identified males are keen to be housed in women's prisons and keen to compete in women's sporting events, the reverse is generally not true of trans-identified females. Consider this article about trans identification in the penal system. In California, well over 90% of the requests to be transferred to the opposite-sex prison came from male inmates. Some trans-identified female inmates were even housed in the male estate, but requested to be transferred to the female estate. Shock, horror: heterosexual male rapists in an environment thitherto devoid of female people don't care how a female person "identifies" or even if they've undergone a double mastectomy. Heterosexual male rapists are not attracted to anyone with "big femme energy": they are attracted to female people. Kind of surprised it took you being physically incarcerated in a men's prison before you figured this out.
More options
Context Copy link