It should mean things like “boys will bond in silly ways like daring each other to eat gross food combinations or playfighting,” which is valid.
What it ends up meaning is “we, as adults, refuse to actually accept responsibility to teach young kids and will now blame it on ‘nature’” which is egregious and consistently fails the younger generation. It’s frustrating.
Every time, 100%, no exceptions, I hear someone spout off about what is or is not a “human universal” it takes me less than ten minutes’ work to find counterexamples.
Red is not the colour of aggression and anger universally, for example. The “natural” counting system is not base 10. (Note: counting, not numerical representation: that’s even more complicated!) Women are not universally the “nurturers” while the men are the “breadwinners/hunters/whatever”. Basically ever “human universal” ever named is wrong.
Yes. It’s true that people can be inherently different, and it’s true that you can teach/ socialize them to treat others with respect anyway. Like the doctor studying psychopaths that discovered he himself was a psychopath. He had been taught how to treat people, regardless of his innate ability to empathize.
It should mean things like “boys will bond in silly ways like daring each other to eat gross food combinations or playfighting,” which is valid.
What it ends up meaning is “we, as adults, refuse to actually accept responsibility to teach young kids and will now blame it on ‘nature’” which is egregious and consistently fails the younger generation. It’s frustrating.
“Human nature” always fucking means that.
Every time, 100%, no exceptions, I hear someone spout off about what is or is not a “human universal” it takes me less than ten minutes’ work to find counterexamples.
Red is not the colour of aggression and anger universally, for example. The “natural” counting system is not base 10. (Note: counting, not numerical representation: that’s even more complicated!) Women are not universally the “nurturers” while the men are the “breadwinners/hunters/whatever”. Basically ever “human universal” ever named is wrong.
Yes. It’s true that people can be inherently different, and it’s true that you can teach/ socialize them to treat others with respect anyway. Like the doctor studying psychopaths that discovered he himself was a psychopath. He had been taught how to treat people, regardless of his innate ability to empathize.