News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by fallingfrog on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:11PM (#29581583)
Interestingly enough there are cultures where the problem was solved using method #1, and they tend to be matriarchal type cultures where women are not monopolized by a single person sexually but are free to do whatever they please. (From what I've read, grain of salt). So on some level the power imbalance itself might be said to come from patriarchy.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by PaulHoule on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:15PM (#29581635)
The status quo is often justified though by an egalitarian argument: that is, if you let things happen "naturally" you would see all of the women end up with 30% of the men and the rest would be left with nothing.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by beebeepka on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:26PM (#29581800)
I've read about this before but I not buying it. I think someone is pushing an agenda with this "explanation" because it is a defeatist stance.

The strongest stallions getting all the women while everyone else is stuck with their VR girlfriends. Totally not a thing on a global scale because we are getting more and more. No, don't cite me aging population stats. They may be real but the math doesn't work out with your 30%

Re:Power imbalances and sex by Hermitian909 on Thursday December 16, 2021 @02:00PM (#29582290)
I will say this is the experience of myself (male) and the men I know in the bay area.

Those of us with the right combination of desirable traits have a choice of partners, scheduling a few dates a week with attractive women is no big deal if you're in that group. Conversely, my friends without such a combination struggle to get a date at all even if they trying to date "down" or "at their level" (I recognize these are crude terms, not sure how else to express the idea). Most of these men are pleasant and have decent jobs but they appear to fall below some line where they're considered for dating unless things evolve very naturally within a longer platonic relationship.

Re:Power imbalances and sex by PrimalDual on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:42PM (#29582039)
My understanding is that this is largely the reality already in the dating marketplaces we can measure (dating apps). At least every study with dating app data I have seen shows a small minority of men get the vast majority of female attention.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by gime_tree_fiddy on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:38PM (#29581991)
The Tinder distribution comes to mind about top 80% competing for 10-20% of males.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by SuoDuanDao on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:30PM (#29581866)
>we are getting more and more.

Sounds like someone in the 30% doesn't know how the rest of us live...

Re:Power imbalances and sex by PaulHoule on Thursday December 16, 2021 @04:20PM (#29584062)
When I brought up the argument I had in mind a case based on income inequality, that some rich guy was able to support 3 women, something that you'd imagine was the case in the time when my namesake and his followers codified Christian ideas of monogamy.

There are many young people today who believe there is also an inequality of attractiveness at work which is, I think, a newer concern.

Re:Power imbalances and sex by matheusmoreira on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:44PM (#29582083)
And yet incels exist and they seem to be increasing not only in number but also in visibility.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by whatshisface on Thursday December 16, 2021 @02:01PM (#29582313)
Abstract dating theory in a very real way creates "incels," where before there were only men going through a rough patch.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by matheusmoreira on Thursday December 16, 2021 @02:53PM (#29583014)
Are you sure about that? Involuntary celibacy actually predates all of these ideologies. The phenomenon was identified in the late 90s, by a female researcher no less.

It seems to me these ideologies are just an attempt to make sense of the suffering.

Re:Power imbalances and sex by PaulHoule on Thursday December 16, 2021 @04:17PM (#29584038)
And they impact you even if you are "married with children"

One of my son's friends fell under the spell of an incel preacher who goes as "Wheat Waffles". He refuses to hang out with my son because my son is taller and more handsome and thus inevitably "mogs" him.

Waffles is running a pernicious cult complete with a catechism and what I saw looks a lot like Scientology disconnection.

Re:Power imbalances and sex by goodpoint on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:20PM (#29581709)
> all of the women end up with 30% of the men

Anthropologists studied many cultures that have no concept of monogamy and sexual shame: it's quite the opposite.

Re:Power imbalances and sex by SuoDuanDao on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:37PM (#29581971)
Do you know whether any of those cultures had the potential for wealth differentials among men the way we do today? The only cultures of that nature I heard of were either communal or men literally couldn't own more property than they could carry themselves.
Re:Power imbalances and sex by throwawaygal7 on Thursday December 16, 2021 @02:04PM (#29582346)
Many of the popular examples are hotly contested and based on acendata
Re:Power imbalances and sex by gime_tree_fiddy on Thursday December 16, 2021 @01:40PM (#29582013)
Can you name some of these cultures/sources. I have found references in pop culture references, and would like to read up on it.