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 -
Promiscuity, when practiced by men both able and willing to engage in it, manifests as the running of soft harems and spinning plates. When practiced by women both able and willing to engage in it, it manifests as serial monogamy or branch-swinging. In other words, the average woman is sexually only interested in one man at a time – this is the one important difference between the sexes. When the woman in question has a sexual interest, and at the same time also appears to be a romantic or long-term relationship with another man, but the sex they are having is rare and basically manifests as pity/negotiated sex, then she is basically keeping this man around as a loser cuck, a convenient servant and an emotional sponge / garbage bin who dutifully performs all sorts of unpleasant tasks for her (he does the maintenance in her apartment, changes the faulty AC unit, mows the lawn etc). He is not a sexual interest and is sexually invisible to her.
On an related note, when you talk in person to female college students and your bros who have girlfriends, I suggest you take anything they say on this matter with a grain of salt, because they have all the incentive in the world to tell you a self-serving narrative that makes them appear good.
More options
Context Copy link