Re: The problem (or nonproblem) of human overpopulation

[Crow]

I think it's certainly true to say that the adherents of the Abrahamic religions are often obsessed with sexual morality.

I'd say more obsessed with sexual ritual.

[Dobermonster]

The Abrahamic forms of sexual control really comes down to control of a resource that can be 'mined' from women, and overlaps with patriarchy. By controlling a valued or essential resource, you control the people. That's why there are so many rules about how to handover your property/females from one male to another and guidelines to determine their value. The ritual is just the method by which to conduct business, not the business itself.

[Crow]

The Abrahamic forms of sexual control really comes down to control of a resource that can be 'mined' from women, and overlaps with patriarchy. By controlling a valued or essential resource, you control the people. That's why there are so many rules about how to handover your property/females from one male to another and guidelines to determine their value. The ritual is just the method by which to conduct business, not the business itself.

The business by large disappeared as is presented yet the rituals persist (though also disappearing) as they are a form of culture that becomes deeply ingrained. Without the ritual it loses authority, when rituals were being performed by other groups and it was important to control the business end they needed to move it out of the hands of the "heathens", by focusing on the ritual and significance this imparts  it helps create a monopoly.

[OldGit]

... a resource that can be 'mined' from women ...

Blimey!  That's a new word for it!

[Dobermonster]

The Abrahamic forms of sexual control really comes down to control of a resource that can be 'mined' from women, and overlaps with patriarchy. By controlling a valued or essential resource, you control the people. That's why there are so many rules about how to handover your property/females from one male to another and guidelines to determine their value. The ritual is just the method by which to conduct business, not the business itself.

The business by large disappeared as is presented yet the rituals persist (though also disappearing) as they are a form of culture that becomes deeply ingrained. Without the ritual it loses authority, when rituals were being performed by other groups and it was important to control the business end they needed to move it out of the hands of the "heathens", by focusing on the ritual and significance this imparts  it helps create a monopoly.

It still exists in modern forms that aren't nearly as removed from the ancient origins as the average person thinks. There are fundamentalist movements where woman still are tightly controlled and handed from father to suitor with little say in the when and how, and sometimes the who. There are no laws supporting them, but they continue through parental domination, peer pressure, and spiritual guilt. The clever ancient men who created these ideas are like bioengineers who created a virus. It's mutated through the centuries, but has a life of its own and is self-perpetuating - no engineers required. The rituals are both symptoms and modes of transmission, like coughing and sneezing. At it's heart it's still about control, but so hopelessly mixed with spirituality that even the men conducting their business can fool themselves into thinking they're just doing 'God's work'.