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Crowstep  1yr ago (worksinprogress.co)   1532 thread views

Why we Duel - Works in Progress

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Submission statement: Anthropologist William Buckner discusses the social purposes and methods of duelling in various societies.

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Unless the woman, who has all the power (quite literally in this scenario) to reward or punish violence by keeping/removing contestants, chooses to prevent or punish violence.

I guess we have different reads on women then. I would expect them to encourage as much violence as possible. "Let's you and him fight" is the oldest female dating strategy in the world.

I would think that at least in some cases there’d be a check on that. You could get a big, strong asshole that challenges the shit out of guys for slights real and imagined and proceeds to kick their asses because he was an amateur boxer or something. Is this the winning strategy? The Bachelorette devolving into a de facto amateur boxing championship?

Oh not at all, I think that is a very possible outcome. That's exactly why I find the possibilities fascinating. What level of violence would be attractive? At some point choosing for violence becomes maladaptive, but some degree of choosing violence is adaptive, where will it land?

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