Posted by
Steve Smith on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/the-pseudoscience-of-evolutionary-psychology-tp7591207p7591250.html
Since the horse isn't quite dead:
I think the horse has barely been flicked with the tip of the
quirt... or perhaps it is the wrong horse which we are flogging, or
both?
- Is it possible that female hominids, specifically "modern
women", are responding to their own instinctual responses to
what is normally *male* display (most vertebrates, birds and
herd mammals being the more obvious examples) to help them
choose which mates they will be most receptive to is turned
inside out by a combination of simple-self-image-awareness and
the technological development of mirrors (and now selfies)? Is
it possible they are *assuming* instinctively that men expect
(nay, demand?) the display they offer?
- Is it possible that male hominids, specifically "modern men",
through another aspect of self-image *are* subject to
extravagant display based on their own instincts to be on
display themselves to attract mates?
In the language of Complexity, these are examples of Exaptation and
(proto?)Spandrels, if in fact they demonstrate any real utility
over the long haul... they may just be a temporary side-effect of
the development of the neocortex to include a stronger "sense of
self".
Women must have the right to bare their arms without comment
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/19/women-right-bare-arms-canada-prime-minister-kim-campbell
"I look at that photo now and see someone who was actually really shy and uncomfortable in the public eye, the opposite of a “look-at-me” beauty queen."
What I glean from former PM Kim Campbell's rant is a parallel to my
take on the "problem of PC". I will acknowledge that somewhere
along the line, the term "Politically Correct" got co-opted and
became a dogwhistle for racist/misogynistic/??? rhetoric. I know
there is thin ice near this topic and have stepped through the ice
here before. Pardon me for my clumsy mincing here?
I think all *deliberate*? change requires over-correction, like most
materials with both elastic and plastic properties... one must
*overbend* to achieve the final bend one wishes. Having come of
age during the height of the Equal and Civil Rights era, I
experienced directly and (more often) indirectly these
over-corrections. The "token white males" on interview lists for
jobs which they would never be selected for, or the occasional "very
good man/father" who got raked over the "deadbeat dad" coals by an
angry ex-spouse and a overzealous justice system.
Statistically, those (ab)uses of their white male status contributed
to an improvement in the overall "Balance of Justice", but
individually they were travesties, of the same order in many ways as
those who we were trying to help with the over-corrections. When
one person leans out one side of the canoe, that everyone else
leaningout the other side might (temporarily) increase it's
"balance" but undermines it's "stability".
As father to two adult daughters and grandfather to one young
granddaughter, I know that there is still plenty of room for
continued improvement, and that will require some continued
vigilance and (over) corrections. The recent events and tendencies
at the national level (marked well perhaps by the Ferguson MO case,
but spiked with the Donald's anti-immigrant/ethnic rants/policies)
suggest that there might be even *more* room on the issues of ethnic
equality.
My biggest task with these "over-corrections" beyond the various
personal inconveniences they cause me from time to time (which I'm
willing to accept if there is a greater good being served) is when
they have begun to work *against* the greater good which they are
exhorted to be supporting. I think this is roughly what Kim
Campbell is trying to address/redress in her rant.
- Steve
On 02/15/2018 08:44 AM, uǝlƃ ☣ wrote:
Exactly! So, it seems most reasonable to assume that the style of the clothing one wears to an awards ceremony, including how much skin is exposed, has more to do with cultural and clique norms than a "desire to be desired", whatever that may mean.
On 02/15/2018 08:16 AM, Frank Wimberly wrote:
It's probably true that there are as many idiosyncratic motives as there are people. But I believe that there are dominant themes in that set of motives. Which begs the question how you know what someone's motives are, including yourself.
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