I enjoyed your writing and took some time to cook a certain thought to medium-rare:
Having always been a non-conforming female, it has surprised me as I get older to find myself still experiencing strong negative emotions about not conforming to "the group". I try practising acceptance (as opposed to trying harder to conform), but I can't quite "get over it".
It strikes me that there's a huge qualitative advantage to having a female group that will consent to co-rearing their children with mine, and that, in a pinch, if I'm sick or dead it's a big question whether one of my "sisters" will hold my baby.
So my deep psychological need could connect to the obvious evolutionary advantage that a sisterly group has in the "nurturing" phase of the reproductive cycle - especially the early part where a husband's best efforts still couldn't feed a baby.
Now we have this curious tangle, especially in the cities, where the "courtship/mating" phase (let us conflate those two for the sake of simplicity) is overlapping with the "nurturing" phase. We could say that those "ought not" to be both active simultaneously, but I guess the brainwashing in combination with the basic madness caused by population density (and hormonal contraceptives) cultivates this.
Presumably, it is a minority of female hive members who actually have children and are using their online networks to discuss their parenting (in a digitally diffused but still recognisable version of a parents' support group). Like the worker bees in the actual hive, most of them don't have children, but still have an active nurturing instinct that is readily applied to any other vulnerable group. And still - perhaps like me - react to the threat of group ostracism with fear of no-one being there to hold their baby.
very interesting - just now i skimmed some and fully read large parts but will check out the rest when i have time - i have not seen any of what you analyze here since i don't partake of any of those platforms; i boycott them all in fact. SS is the only social media platform i have interacted with, and i am a non-conforming woman and not young. still tho, i am surely seeing the reflection in the surrounding culture of that which you bear witness to here.
Why do you say women like history podcasts less? As a history student I 'm not sure about that. Take The Rest Is History, for instance. That has a 50/50 gender split.
I enjoyed your writing and took some time to cook a certain thought to medium-rare:
Having always been a non-conforming female, it has surprised me as I get older to find myself still experiencing strong negative emotions about not conforming to "the group". I try practising acceptance (as opposed to trying harder to conform), but I can't quite "get over it".
It strikes me that there's a huge qualitative advantage to having a female group that will consent to co-rearing their children with mine, and that, in a pinch, if I'm sick or dead it's a big question whether one of my "sisters" will hold my baby.
So my deep psychological need could connect to the obvious evolutionary advantage that a sisterly group has in the "nurturing" phase of the reproductive cycle - especially the early part where a husband's best efforts still couldn't feed a baby.
Now we have this curious tangle, especially in the cities, where the "courtship/mating" phase (let us conflate those two for the sake of simplicity) is overlapping with the "nurturing" phase. We could say that those "ought not" to be both active simultaneously, but I guess the brainwashing in combination with the basic madness caused by population density (and hormonal contraceptives) cultivates this.
Presumably, it is a minority of female hive members who actually have children and are using their online networks to discuss their parenting (in a digitally diffused but still recognisable version of a parents' support group). Like the worker bees in the actual hive, most of them don't have children, but still have an active nurturing instinct that is readily applied to any other vulnerable group. And still - perhaps like me - react to the threat of group ostracism with fear of no-one being there to hold their baby.
very interesting - just now i skimmed some and fully read large parts but will check out the rest when i have time - i have not seen any of what you analyze here since i don't partake of any of those platforms; i boycott them all in fact. SS is the only social media platform i have interacted with, and i am a non-conforming woman and not young. still tho, i am surely seeing the reflection in the surrounding culture of that which you bear witness to here.
Why do you say women like history podcasts less? As a history student I 'm not sure about that. Take The Rest Is History, for instance. That has a 50/50 gender split.
Do you contribute to TheMotte.org? If not, I’d encourage you to share there.