Beliefs I have held until someone reminded me to actually think about them…

I know I am not alone in doing this – holding beliefs which you have simply never thought about. In fact, I am pretty sure it is the default position of pretty much everyone. We all get raised a certain way, and we get told certain things, we read them in newspapers, we hear them repeated on sitcoms and panelist shows – and for the most part they really don’t matter… so we just accept them as true.

This thread is dedicated to chronicling little awakenings of thought on these previously un-thought-of factoids in my life. This list is not meant to absolutely conclusively say that these popular-claims are definitely wrong. My point is simply that I had never thought of them before. Now that I have though, I DO happen to think they are wrong, and I will argue why i do so. But by no means am I certain that I am right! I have only just started to consider the situation!

Different Alcohols Cause Different Types of Drunk

I have always thought this to be true. Heard it from many people. Lots of people will agree when you talk about Rum being a violent alcohol for example. I have heard several independent people tell me that Rum makes them aggressive. But in realtiy, alcohol is alcohol. The flavouring added to it, and the processes used to derive it don’t change the fact that the thing which makes you drunk, is Ethanol. And it is the same in all alcohols.

The reason there may be some ‘truth’ to it, is because our psychology is far more willing to be told what to do than we wish. Social cues, expectations, and things like that may make people repeat the myth just because they expect it to happen.

There is also a slight chance that the other additives and chemicals may have an impact on the process of getting drunk – but that would be interesting in its own right, and not have anything to do with the alcohol itself.

Men Reach Their Sexual Peak around 18, Women around 30

I feel so stupid writing that. But that is sort of the point of this process – how easy it is to believe things just because you don’t actually think them through. Someone says it, and you don’t care at the time, so you accept it as true. I accepted this pearl of wisdom as true too. But if you actually think about it, it doesn’t make any sense!

I believe this idea is regularly repeated in society because 18 year old boys seem to be so horny while their peers tend to turn them down a lot. While older women seem much more forthcoming sexually. At least, that is the social narrative anyway. That is the perception most people have.

I suspect there may be an element of truth behind it though – just not related to actual biological sexuality. Instead, I suspect that younger girls, in traditional families at least, are raised in such a way that they think it is their duty to be virgins, and pure and all that BS. And anyone who sleeps with more than one boy is a slut etc. While boys don’t get that same lecturing. It isn’t until the girls grow up and out of their upbringing that they realise they have been lied to and tricked, and so finally let their defenses down and start doing what they actually want to do, which is what nearly everyone really wants to do, fuck people.

So I think it is fair enough to look at our society and see horny teenage boys, prudish teenage girls, and then sexually active 30+yo women and also sexually active 30+ yo men, and reach the conclusion which provided our heading above. It is just unfortunate that aside from the social pressures to behave this way, I strongly doubt there is any actual truth to it.

For one thing, why would women evolve to be sexually active at around the same age they could be grandparents? (seriously! Evolutionarily speak, 30 is grandparent age since you should be having children as soon as you reach puberty which is quite often 12yo!). Secondly, in most societies ever studied, it tends to be older men with younger girls than the other way around. So why would our biological functions directly contradict our most reliable species-wide actions?

No, this idea makes no sense at all. It seems clear that males and females reach their sexual peaks at the same time – shortly after puberty, right when their bodies are at their most healthy, strong and capable of providing food for new offspring, bearing those offspring and raising those offspring for another 15 or so years without dying.

 

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