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SlutCon

122 points · 41 comments · ekluger

  1. schainks · · focus · HN ↗
    Great read, but I'm a little puzzled.

    My takeaway is SlutCon has successfully re-skinned The Argument Clinic. (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TpQlyUjp3vM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=TpQlyUjp3vM). Someone enters a commercialized, scheduled space to pay for a raw, spontaneous human experience, only to get trapped in an infuriating debate over the technical definition of the experience itself.

    Or am I missing a read-between-the-lines that this event is really to facilitate successful Autistic people in flirting, dating, and relationships?

    1. michaelt · · focus · HN ↗
      Being instructed in things you&#x27;re bad at can be a humbling experience. Being corrected in a humbling way triggers an instinct, in some people, to try and argue with the correction.

      When my 20-years-of-ballet ass goes to a salsa class, I get told I&#x27;m doing it all wrong, because I am. And every time I feel an instinct to say - how dare you call my perfect Balanchine hand position wrong? What do you mean we&#x27;re going to face some random direction where the audience clearly won&#x27;t be able to see our performance?

      Obviously I keep my mouth shut; I am a complete beginner, and salsa is the instructor&#x27;s area of expertise. The instinct to reject the instruction, the notion I know salsa better than them, is absurd. One has to clamp down on base instincts that tell one to do dumb things.

      I don&#x27;t think the attendees at SlutCon are supposed to argue with the people they&#x27;re flirting with. They&#x27;re supposed to flirt with them. The instinct to disagree and argue is them letting their bruised egos get the better of them.

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