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Richard Fulmer's avatar

“The narratives, norms, expectations we create around sex are indeed socially constructed. But they are socially constructed on a biological base.”

Assertions that this or that institution or norm is a social construct combined with implicit claims that “we” can alter it at will are appearing more frequently. Such claims ignore the fact that, as you observe, many such institutions are grounded in (evolutionary) biology and were not created ex nihilo but evolved over centuries or millennia.

Certainly, our actions can alter such institutions, but the reactions and interactions of others together with the constraints of nature all but guarantee that the results will not be what we intend - witness the increasing unhappiness among women that you report.

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