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 -
Last week, in its dogged commitment to a free and open internet, the UK has instituted a criminal prohibition on certain pornography in England and Wales. It is now a criminal offense to view or possess pornography that depicts "strangulation" including choking or "face sitting", incest including depictions of step siblings, and any depictions of underage roleplay. The penalty for viewing or possessing any of these categories is a prison sentence that ranges from 2-3 years. Publication of these materials has a punishment of up to 5 years in prison.
Before a conservative cheered the prohibition of pornographic materials as a buttress against the immorality of modernity I'd remind him it is worth keeping in mind the context. The UK has been on a tear the past couple decades when it comes to regulating the internet. These efforts did not go without results, culminating most recently in the Online Safety Act of 2023 which pushed an age-verification regime. The OSA is not limited to porn sites to ban minors, but also potentially hits app stores, vendors, payment intermediaries, and more that extends the tendrils of the state into the internet.
Feminists and Labour politicians who hate violence against women, think-of-the-children conservatives, Christian organizations, and Ofcom the regulatory agency which, surprisingly, tends to voice support for more regulations-- what do these constituencies all have in common? It's not the weirdest coalition to lock arms in solidarity, but it's strange bedfellows. Public choice theory stays winning. Many are saying.
I can't claim abstinence, but I am not a big fan of porn. I don't think productions involving toasters are a social good and children should not watch porn. However, what I suspect laws like this to be in practice is to function as a carve out for a censorious state with neurotic apparatchiks to punch up criminal charges whenever they feel like. The next time Tommy Robinson gets picked up for violence they can hit him with the lude pornography laws. There will be no reduction of Violence Against Women when so many report sexual choking as consensual and pleasurable.
If you peruse internet commentary on the Crime and Policing Act 2026 you will find a lot of people who agree with me. From reddit to X, everyone has criticisms that this is selective or ineffective. If you stopped there you wouldn't know that some surveys indicate the majority of Brits support the ban, if not the criminalization. To properly do this experiment Brits must go full bore with social taboos, reverse the sexual revolution, and enforce criminal statutes to that effect. Reinstitute sodomy laws. The cowards will never.
Just legalize prostitution. It’s healthier than porn. A person going to see a prostitute is reinforcing all sorts of prosocial behaviors before obtaining his desired primary reinforcer: making money, scheduling, dressing up, heading to town, participating in the economy, conversing, being polite, connecting with another human, and then the nitty-gritty mechanical things. All of these are great micro-skills for when he one day has a wife. He’s reinforcing the right things. A person watching porn is usually just reinforcing scrolling, distraction, avoidance, all sorts of bad things. In my utopian head canon we would subsidize prostitution somewhat but require a prelude of flirtation before consummation. This is ideal.
Prostitution also takes the sluts out of the dating market (a plus), gives sluts a positive sense of life purpose attuned to their nature (a plus), takes away the imho excessive social privileging and monopolization of women today (a plus), eliminates entire industries of vice which ruins lives like clubbing (a plus), and reduces the number of women participating in the less-regulated pornography industry (a plus). The only bad thing I can think of is disease, but perhaps a regulated prostitution industry would actually reduce the general disease prevalence, because sluts don’t get treated regularly.
These two things can be true at the same time:
Morally, ideally, no one should see a prostitute, and it should not be promoted
Morally, practically, prostitution is better for society than porn
Retarded. Not only are they just throwing vast hapless Britbongs into the strangulating thighs of Mossad or the Central Casting Agency’s COINTELAMATEUR (good look keeping secrets Romeo), but they are going to be sending men to jail for enjoying the things that women also appear to enjoy. Just really stupid. What’s wrong with the British?
I used to believe this as well, that ladies of the night offered a convenient "dark arts" shortcut to developing the social and sexual confidence necessary for conventional relationships, but that doesn't really bear out in practice. Often times, the johns (the incel kind in the literal sense of the word) end up developing feelings for the girl, only to leave feeling more alienated, and being reminded of the intimacy they cannot experience organically. You can throw on a nice jacket, make conversation, and attempt to charm her. Or not. You're still fucking her for the same price. There is no psychological barrier attached to the social cost of insinuating that you find her goonable and wish to goon inside her.
Yeah I've really never comprehended the idea of hiring a prostitute. If you want mechanical gratification, that can be had for free. But sex is mostly about validation as a man; being selected as worthy of reproduction, and a prostitute can't do that for you. I'm fairly disturbed by the idea of someone paying for sex. Something has to have gone very wrong there.
Though I do have a friend who gets handjobs at a Chinese massage parlor, which he says do more for him than masturbation and which he prefers in lieu of 'using' young women whom he has no intention of taking seriously. Guess I can see where he's coming from but his problems aren't my problems.
Are you talking about casual sex, or masturbation?
The latter is more commonly available. I understand there are edge cases involving quadriplegia and so on.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link