MixedNuts comments on Rational Romantic Relationships, Part 1: Relationship Styles and Attraction Basics - Less Wrong

48 Post author: lukeprog 05 November 2011 11:06AM

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Comment author: MixedNuts 11 November 2011 04:39:39PM 0 points [-]

No, just the description that is intended to make people go "Ew, undateable" (obesity, poor hygiene), as opposed to "Aw, poor girl, those guys are so shallow" (ugly duckling).

But... but... how come I don't get to say that, when you get to say "This is a terrible debate and you should all feel bad for having it."? (Because you're freaking Yvain. Also because you have some concept of tact.)

Comment author: Yvain 11 November 2011 05:07:36PM 8 points [-]

Again, where did I say that it was "gross"?

I said it would make it harder for the woman to get dates with men, but is that really in doubt? Do you need me to find statistics showing that (American) men in general rate women who don't shave their legs as less attractive? And I was using it as an example of something that shouldn't matter, but does.

You don't get to say that because 90% of people who used it in the context you did would be using it seriously, and because accusing someone of being a bad person for being sexist is more of a trigger point than accusing someone of having a bad debate.

Comment author: dlthomas 11 November 2011 05:18:38PM *  7 points [-]

When you give a list of three attributes, people tend assume the salient features are common for all three or different for all three. The attributes you gave were obese, poor hygiene, and unshaved. Two of these, obese and poor hygiene, are problematic for reasons other than simple lack of social acceptance, and people thus feel more confident calling them "gross" - for which they were also primed by your use of the term in it's other sense.

As I see it: no, you didn't say it, but I completely understand why they heard it.

Comment author: MixedNuts 11 November 2011 05:23:34PM 2 points [-]

90% of people who used it in the context you did would be using it seriously

Uh. Okay. I guess I far underestimated the proportion of people who would seriously call you a bad person on LW. My bad.

Comment author: wedrifid 11 November 2011 06:27:47PM *  3 points [-]

For what it is worth I appreciated the tongue in cheek nature of your call and only object to the 'being wrong about what what Yvain said' part, not the 'bad' part. I can't help you in finding an explanation on how you managed to get to -4. Perhaps you could edit that one part out and see if you get back up to 0? People often seem to approve of retraction-edits.

Comment author: Yvain 12 November 2011 02:35:37AM 0 points [-]

Oh, fine. Maybe I'm just oversensitive. Downvote revoked.

Comment author: Oligopsony 11 November 2011 04:51:15PM 2 points [-]

Because this is a terrible debate, and we should all feel bad for having it. (I say this, like Yvain did originally, as a moth who knows it is drawn to the flame.)