Report from the field
I’m not sure why, but I happen to be someone who often participates in completely different social circles, whether it’s through Facebook groups, email lists, or IRL hangouts. And when I say “very different,” I mean woke media and academic types, so-called TERFs and third-wave feminists, anarchists, MAGAs, New Rightists, Trachus, rationalists, post-rats, classical liberals, etc. means. If you have any idea about that fringe, I’ve probably been in that group chat or event in the past two years. (Except Tanky – I draw the line there.)
Why I end up cycling through all these niches is a weird topic for another day, but the point of this article is not to brag about my network, but rather how I end up cycling through all these niches. It is to report on a phenomenon that I observed while working in a group 😛People are turning on each other over sex..
Let’s be honest: “Ladypenis isn’t actually real” is a very strange confession for a group to make.
This is so outlandish to me that every group on the political and social map is intersected by the same set of unstable fault lines around sex and related issues of gender and pornography. It took me a long time to admit that I could see. , prostitution, stripping, drugs, and the rest of the rainbow.
I’ve seen groups on the left and right pitted against each other over the exact same handful of issues, primarily pornography and sex, especially minors.
that infamous
New York Post article What about high school “porn literacy” classes?I found Jacobins types and reason type on both The following aspects of the question are: Is that class an appropriate, mature society’s response to the current prevalence of smartphone porn, or is it perhaps a crime against humanity and God that some people are sent to prison for?
Feelings about sex vary
I wish I could have given more color to the various left-handed and right-handed versions of the Big Sex Split that I’ve seen played over and over again over the past couple of years, but I wasn’t at those venues. I can’t do that because it’s not my story to tell. But you’ve probably seen this kind of thing before, so you know how it happens.
What I can do, however, is to characterize the ways in which I have seen this division play out more generally, particularly with respect to what is now called the “New Right.” (Do I now consider myself a member of the New Right? I know a lot of people in that category, including myself, but no one seems to know what the “New Right” is. is.)
As I mentioned above, my experiences vary widely, but I have seen reactions to so-called “pride-coded” child-targeted sexual acts fall into the following ranges: I did.
- It’s a duty.to do not have Involving children in this is teaching them hate.
- In fact, that’s a good thing.
- Eh, it’s okay. anything. why do you care?
- It’s terrible, but people should be able to make decisions about their own children.
- This is terrible behavior, and in theory we would like it to stop, but we have found a workable strategy to stop it without violating other principles we hold dear. not. So what can you do?
- That is terrible and we will take any means necessary to stop it as soon as possible, leaving no power, ability or method on the table from a false commitment to principles. The only principle at work here is: “Whatever this is, you can’t do anything.”
In my time in various left- and right-wing circles, I have certainly seen all six of these viewpoints articulated and affirmed. I have also seen #6 pop up in hyper-awake circles around sexual practices involving children (child beauty pageants, purity balls, conversion therapy).
My theory is that in classifying you into a tribe, which of the above sexual response areas you fall into is much more important than other areas (politics, economics, religion, etc.). That’s what it means.People are
Are we postliberal?But because of the sex controversy, we’re mostly wondering if that’s the case. post ideology. In an age of anger, we have returned to drawing our primary lines of identity around animal fundamentals.
Take this quiz!
So where exactly will it be done?
you autumn? What I’ve discovered is that any sexy or sexual practice, event, or sight can fit into the spectrum of sexual responses described above, and depending on which bucket you end up falling into, you can determine who your mates are. Or rather, it will decide which members will be in your scene. Are you open to which members you want to purge?
Here is a sample list of scissors to run through the list above and see where you land.
- drag queen story hour
- drag brunch for kids
- Children putting dollar bills in strippers’ thongs, pole dancing with strippers, and engaging in other sex work-related activities
- Textbooks that present sex work to children as just a type of labor
- Pride parade where kink is on full display and kids participate
- drug kids
- children beauty contest
- evangelical purity ball
- gay conversion therapy
- Porn use by teenagers (especially over 16, as I’ve recently seen lefties draw the age line for porn at 16)
(I threw some right-wing stuff in there to mix it up. But you get the idea.)
Whatever scene you’re in, no matter what that scene nominally centers around, no matter what norms or commitments it professes, make sure to ditch one of the items on the list above and make people You can watch them turn against each other like Greek gods. golden apple.
You know I’m telling the truth because you’ve seen it, right?
In fact, these days, whenever I find someone I really get along with, I always have a mild fear that that person will turn out to be part of the sexual response spectrum with any of these issues. I feel that.
I part of it They are Intolerable. What’s even scarier for me as a parent is the thought that one or more of my children will end up on the other side of some kind of divide from me.
Such divisions occur so frequently that I currently do not ultimately divide into subgroups based on a spectrum, depending on the size and level of diversity of existing coalitions, polities, scenes, and tribes. , or believe that there is no such thing that will not divide.
- Feminists disagree over whether biological sex matters for women’s oppression.
- New atheists are divided over the reality of biological sex.
- For many years, Christians have been divided into those who support same-sex marriage and those who do not.
- Classical liberals can disagree sharply over whether restrictions on Internet pornography are an unacceptable violation of freedom (out of an 80s-style “moral panic”) or, unfortunately, necessary for the continued functioning of civilization. many.
- The evangelical right weighs in on whether Drag Queen Story Hour should be allowed by law for pluralist reasons or outlawed as “Holy cow, David French, are you serious?!” are divided. basis.
Whenever I encounter a new scene, I try to sniff out where the various members of the group fall on the spectrum. Because they are splinter groups that form when everything inevitably explodes in the scissors of sex.
strange friends
One of the more bizarre effects of this disintegration and rift is how these ruptures bring together former adversaries, resulting in social formations that are so surreal that they are hard to believe unless you experience them in real life. That’s it.
Walk into any “grounded” or “new right” event today and you’ll encounter an incredible variety of ethnic, religious, class, and economic ideologies, all of which include: We are united by deeply held beliefs. If you’re telling your kids that “lady penises” exist, then that should definitely not be tolerated and should be put on some kind of watch list.
Let’s be honest: “Ladypenis isn’t actually real” is a very strange confession for a group to make. It’s pretty gonzo, isn’t it? And yet, here we are…and to be honest, here I am. It fit perfectly.
If you’re at some gathering and you’re like, “Wow, look at this crowd…I’m sure there’s something else that unites these guys, other than their willingness to publicly confess their ladypenis sexual orientation.” Even when you think, “There must be something,” you can feel the strangeness of it. lie? ” But for now, that’s often enough.
Light of hope?
The beast comes to us all eventually. As long as the social graph is driven by advertising, it will continue to do so and eventually everyone will fall into one of two camps: it’s mandatory or it’s illegal. . The center can’t hold, and if you think you can…well, okay?
saw Center these days?
If there’s a silver lining there, I look for it in Musk’s subscription model. I think Mr. Musk correctly understands the dynamics I have detailed.
my newsletter: The social media advertising machine values engagement, and the best way to increase engagement is to stir up anger. If we can shift our revenue base from an emotionally corrosive advertising model to one where users pay for the value they get from the network, we have a chance to turn Twitter into a net profit for society.
Clearly, the current successful and corrupt merchants hate this plan and have been humiliating it ever since it was announced. This is a good crowd-sourced signal that what he’s doing may be working. Because in any world where human scissors are a losing strategy, they will naturally disappear.
