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 -
Isn't women's "base" instinct to not sleep around, and to want a relationship? That's what evolution tells us. Wanting to live like a man is the more difficult thing for a woman to do, as it goes against their nature (i.e. base instincts).
Does evolution actually teach that though? Or is it just a narrative that uses evolutionary terms to make itself sound more plausible?
It is not like you can actually empirically test evopsych theories on real people. All you can do is make theories about evolutionary pressures. Notably, evolution doesn't always lead to the most rational result. Eggs are more expensive than sperm, pregnancy is taxing, and child-rearing requires community support. This implies that women should be wired for stability, and since sleeping around is anything but, there is a rational argument to be made that women would not be wired for this.
But evolutionary theories need to be adjusted to fit reality. In reality young women have a constant sex drive. Not as high as men, but still significant enough to cause some amount of distress if they don't get laid. In reality, a good amount of women cheat on their partners with men they barely know. As barriers to casual relationships have been removed we see more women preferring them. As practical reasons to get into stable relationships with men have been reduced, we see a decrease in desire for stable relationships with men.
In general, if your theory not only fails to predict reality, but actually predicts the opposite, then clearly the theory is wrong.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link