Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
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Notes -
Okay, look, I'm not saying you're posting in the wrong place; however, if you weren't a staff writer on "The Good Wife," that's Julianna Margolis's loss.
But how do you get from a compelling (even Emmy-winning) story that describes an extremely plausible series of events to being able to present evidence that what you describe is more or less confidence to what OP described, or any other type of interpersonal relationship?
Not sure what you mean, sorry.
Don't apologize--I was trying to be clever, which is always a hit-or-miss endeavor.
Anyway, my question is: how do you count what percentage of women in, say, America have the sort of relationship you describe? How does OP? Because both of you describe things that do happen, but how often they happen is very, very difficult to count. The only place I can even think to look is the GSS, and I can't find any questions on there that really seem germane.
Part of me thinks Skookum's hypothesis (which he freely admits he only has 5% confidence in it being true) should simply be disregarded out of hand: "what can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence". This discussion has been going on for weeks and no one has yet presented any real evidence for the claim that women are more miserable in relationships with men who are caring but unattractive and socially awkward than women in relationships with men who are physically abusive. The best someone could come up with a study which purported to demonstrate that the introduction of no-fault divorce in the US precipitated a massive drop in the female suicide rate, but that seems tangentially related at best - it could just as easily be explained by women no longer being forced to stay wedded to men who beat them, drink too much, gamble all the time, rape their children etc.
When I see some very persuasive evidence that women in relationships with socially awkward men are more miserable than women in relationships with men who beat them, then and only then will I entertain the possibility that the hypothesis is true. Until then I am taking it about as seriously as astrology or crystal healing.
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