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 -
There's been a marked shift to the right for young men in the past couple of years, while women have gone in the other direction. It can't all just be the industrial revolution.
According to Gallup: U.S. Women Have Become More Liberal; Men Mostly Stable.
More options
Context Copy link
"The story goes like this..."
What we are seeing now is the culmination of the commodification of sex and the relations between the sexes which started long ago but could not get fully in stride before the invention of the pill, hormonal therapy and the ideological advances that allowed for the deterritorialization of all sexed institutions (including marriage, youth clubs, and anything in between) and of sex itself.
Capital/Industrial Society/Modernity couldn't do this without the Internet. Now it has done it. And here we are.
How big of a shift was this actually?
Like it wasn’t the first birth control method, and social acceptability of contraception started to increase with the lambeth accords. It seems like the pill was left of a shift and more of a stepping stone along the path.
Some argue other inventions before it were more impactful, but all I've seen were in the same vein and pursuing the same ultimate goal.
More options
Context Copy link
I'm not sure that contraception for unmarried people was within the Overton window until after the pill. And while the timing method works well, it requires diligence.
Also the behavioral changes of hormonal birth control might be pretty impactful.
Contraception for unmarried people wasn’t socially accepted in 1960 either.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Eh, I’m not convinced. It looks like they just haven’t gone as far left as the women have; that’s different from shifting to the right in absolute terms
There has definitely been a bit of a shift recently (combined I'm sure with a great deal of power-level-hiding) but the median man seems mostly demoralized and indifferent to political issues, and more focused on his own life and interests. That's just the feeling I get from the stats and my own anecdotal experience. Women more universally seem to have a stronger sense of political identity, whether to the left or to the right.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link