It's WEIRD all the way down

by liberal japonicus

In a discussion about how to set up and evaluate moodle discussions, I wanted to make the point that there were a lot of assumptions that were being made and I passed on this article from 2013 about WEIRD (Western, educated, and from industrialized, rich, and democratic countries) subjects of psychology research and how they might not be so indicative and this passage tickled me a bit.

The majority of these “intimate relations” were not actually sexual intercourse; they were experiences where the “goal was sexual arousal.” The authors don’t report what these experiences included, but it could have been everything from first base to a home run.

I love how, in a discussion of how WEIRD subjects may affect psychological research results they have a metaphor that excludes the parts of the world that don't play baseball. Which, of course, had me go down a rabbit-hole

A UK magazine explanation

The glorious XKCD visual chart

An 1991 article with a disturbing section of baseball metaphors offered up by middle and high school students making me realize what a sheltered life I led.

This thread about what is the equivalent in English speaking countries that don't have baseball is too short

And of course, there is a wikipedia page

If you were wondering, Japanese youth, when I first came to Japan, used a scale from A to C, with A being equal to first base/kissing and C being equal to home/intercourse, though this was an 80's thing. A few webpages suggest that the current formulation is HIJK. H=ettchi(sex), I=ai(love) J=junya(junior i.e. baby) and K=kekkon (marriage) but that seems too clever, so I doubt it has any currency.

Anyway,

Comments

[Ugh]

“Napoleon’s forces” lol

[Snarki, child of Loki]

That one's for hanky-panky in the water-loo.

Maybe.

[wj]

I hit the sub-block of the 1991 article: The Metaphor’s Recent Connection with Sexual Assault Issues, specifically "the men in the movie cheering the rapists", and my immediate thought was Kavanaugh.

[nous]

"the men in the movie cheering the rapists"

My wife taught Blade Runner in one of her classes. There's that one scene where Rachel is resisting Deckard's advances and he slaps her in the face and then she kisses him passionately - horrible trope from that period in film.

When she screened it in class, one of her male students unironically blurted out "Yeah, that's the way you do it!," whereupon the film was paused and a teaching moment occurred.

[Girl from the North Country]

An excellent teaching moment. Alas, think of all the young men who don't get that opportunity to learn. Meanwhile, trying to change the culture so that boys (and girls - "he hit me and it felt like a kiss") don't absorb that kind of thing from childhood is the challenge. It's started, at least in our WEIRD societies, but there's still an awfully long way to go. Look at Incel culture, and the assumptions that underlie it. And if recent political developments throughout the world have taught us anything, it's that we cannot assume that change for the better is bound to carry on and succeed.

[wj]

Look at Incel culture, and the assumptions that underlie it.

Call me dense, but I have to wonder why these "incel" guys never ask themselves "What am I doing that the other sex finds so utterly repulsive?"

Because, if you look at some of the characters who do manage to find relationships, or even marriage, it should be obvious that something is seriously wrong with them.

[wj]

Question of the day:
What (if anything) is the difference between an incel group which decries their inability to attract the opposite sex, and an ultra-conservative group which decries its inability to attract a majority of voters? And what (also if anything) is the philosophical difference in their approaches to, as they see it, correct their problem?