I don't think you realize you are attacking children for their choices as if we adults have not role in guiding them to better options than they'd otherwise choose on their own. If the 'you figure it out' approach was being applied we wouldn't have programs to get girls into STEM or any other male dominated field.

There are several theories why boys might be simply less invested in their academic success:

Why on earth would there be more power in female sexuality? I guess, the idea of a level playing field is already scary enough for most guys to explain patriarchy. Everything beyond that is pure paranoia.

oh, let me guess, you're probably a believer in the homo oeconomicus, the rational agent who's only striving to maximize his personal utility? Cute. (For the record, the "mostly focussed on personal benefits"-thing is something I can buy into, but "rational" is generally a bit of a myth.)

Talking about comfortable narratives.... because "Institutionalized sexism? Nah, women just aren't that funny" isn't convenient at all..... Don't you know, male doctors/comedians/whatever could have no possible self-serving motivation to keep out female competition; balls are apparently a guarantee of objectivity and…

I'm not the one who's narrowing the scope of an argument - I did not suggest that any action other than speaking results in a negative consequence in all cases - I just pointed out that in some cases there's no action other than speaking that could result in a positive consequence. Never suggested that your strategy…

Now you're being evasive.

And my point was that that's a nice idea but not always possible. With your strategy the "let's not have this war"-side could only win their argument after it had already become irrelevant. Can't really fault them for at least trying something else.

The U.S lost their argument and many soldiers and civilians lost their lifes. Not sure I'd describe that as winning..... (what's the point in winning an argument, after you've already failed to prevent the scenario you wanted to prevent?)

my sympathies. The things we do for love...

well, technically she doesn't leave hottie mcHot for Richy Rich; she resigns herself to a life with Richy Rich after she thinks Hottie dumped her, because their evil parents never gave her his letters or something.

That's also basically the trick with the Socratic method - you let the other side provide all the components for your argument, challenge and undermine their previous connections and guide them to draw new (your) conclusions. It's super efficient when done well (I had exactly one professor at uni who could reliably…

Cute, but impractical. How do you "demonstrate" the existence or non-existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? (Other than quoting the respective report, which is however nothing other than the statement of fact that apparently doesn't work)

I was thinking David Foster Wallace. Reads like something straight out of "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men".

Yep, apart from a bit of philosophical sophistry it had no great impact lon the dramatic level. Mainly, it seems to matter from Voldemort's perspective - he doomed himself, by buying into the prophecy in the first place. That's the hardly the most innovative twist on the whole prophecy trope, but it's a classic for a…

Yep, I feel this has interesting implications for call-out culture. Of course intentions count on the metaphysical level, but in the day-to-day operation, when it comes to counter-conditioning, it's just not a terribly useful distinction.

What makes Walter White more horrifying than most of the monsters in Westeros is that he would actually know better.

I don’t see Walt’s attempt to buy Hank’s life as a sign of him still being a fundamentally decent person (too little too late; a fairly empty gesture at this point, unlikely to accomplish anything; Hank…

The characters in The Following not falling over themselves to make stupid moves? I didn't watch it because it couldn't stomach 5 minutes of that pseudo-edgy tripe (poor Poe), but I occassionally read the horrified reviews at the A.V.Club and the baffling idiocy of the characters was a recurring theme. And that show…

I get a strong Cowboy Bebop/Samurai Champloo filler episode vibe from this. Those were always pretty hit and miss for me, athough I'm willing to blame it all on cultural differences. Pathos and haunting beauty always translate better than comedy.

Well, I suspect your female audience would be happier if you portrayed women as sexual subjects, rather than objects, but generally speaking the problem with sexual objectification of women is not so much the phenomenon in isolation, but rather its at times downright inescapable seeming ubiqity.