[faizan-ali]

"It's banned in all these places so it must be bad" is a terrible argument. It was also illegal to be gay or get an abortion in most places until recently.

All societies up until maybe 200 years ago for some, yesterday for others, also agreed that women were lesser. Pretty strong consensus there actually.

Sigh.

[rayiner]

My argument is: “it’s banned in all these places so it must not be the result of US racial politics.” The same is true for laws against abortion or homosexuality. The fact that Hinduism and Buddhism have taboos against both shows that the taboos aren’t something that American Christians ginned up from nothing. They reflect something about the human experience that cuts across completely different cultures.

The same thing with gender roles. Social consensus 200 years ago probably reflects some cross-cutting aspect of the human experience, for example the fact that 200 years ago, when most people survived by doing back-breaking physical labor, the physical differences between men and women were much more salient in everyday life.

[toomanyrichies]

> The fact that Hinduism and Buddhism have taboos against both shows that the taboos aren’t something that American Christians ginned up from nothing. They reflect something about the human experience that cuts across completely different cultures.

A societal practice or norm can still be worth dismantling, even if it does "reflect something about the human experience that cuts across completely different cultures".

Case in point- the historical bias against left-handed people. The fact that this irrational fear has been propagated by countries and cultures too numerous to count, from Taiwan to Malawi [1], does not make it more valid or worthy of propagation. It might just mean that all these cultures have similar flaws to address.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_against_left-handed_peopl...