I guess when there is a scale from X to Y, you can make yourself appear to be more X by conspicuously avoiding everything associated with Y. In context of ideological groups it means “more loyal”, in context of gender it means “more masculine/feminine”; in both cases it is “more <what defines this group>”.
But why not do more X instead? Maybe there are diminishing returns to signaling X. (Killing a bear with your hands makes you masculine, but does killing two bears with your hands make you twice as masculine?) Or maybe complete scope insensitivity (two bears, twenty bears, it’s the same thing—you either are a “bear-killer” or not). Not sure about this part.
I guess when there is a scale from X to Y, you can make yourself appear to be more X by conspicuously avoiding everything associated with Y. In context of ideological groups it means “more loyal”, in context of gender it means “more masculine/feminine”; in both cases it is “more <what defines this group>”.
But why not do more X instead? Maybe there are diminishing returns to signaling X. (Killing a bear with your hands makes you masculine, but does killing two bears with your hands make you twice as masculine?) Or maybe complete scope insensitivity (two bears, twenty bears, it’s the same thing—you either are a “bear-killer” or not). Not sure about this part.