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Ghatanathoah's avatar

Am I the only one who, if told that if I do something it will make people feel "defected against" in a prisoner's dilemma game that no one even bothered to tell me I was playing, wants to do it more? If a female version of me had read Sympathetic Opposition's post, she would have worn the sexiest possible outfit the next time she went out, just to signal to other women that she owes them nothing. I hate it when people act like you owe them something without explaining what it is, and I especially hate it when they do so because we are the same gender.

I've never in my life felt hostility to women who dress sexily without being sexually available to me, personally. I find such an attitude bizarre. It would be like being upset at someone wearing a tool belt and overalls in public because they don't want to fix your sink. I mostly just feel gratitude that someone has seen fit to brighten my day with some eye candy, even if it doesn't go further than that and they weren't doing it for me. Maybe it's that at a young age I was taught to believe that it was narcissistic to believe that people spend a lot of time thinking about you and planning their behavior around you, so I automatically assume that something isn't for me.

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Jacob Falkovich's avatar

Nerdy girl in high school -> not great at popularity contests / social grace -> makes up for it by upping sexiness

Nerdy guy in high school -> low status, no chance of getting laid + has to exercise superhuman attention control just to get boring homework done + extremely horny

So when she friendzones him, even though you can't really fault for anything and she wasn't trying to be mean, you can kinda see how a guy would react with rage (not even at *her*, but at the entire fucked up situation). And he doesn't grow out of this (or maybe he's still very young), that's how an incel is made.

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