Actually, “unwelcome” means that the definition sometimes depends almost exclusively on status. In the extreme situation that a guy is so high status I wouldn’t mind anything he did and would always say yes, he couldn’t possibly be creepy.
In a less hypothetical case, my reaction to statements like “you’re beautiful” or “your hair looks amazing” depends entirely on who is saying it. It would be considered creepy only if the guy was sufficiently low status that my intuition doesn’t process the statement as sincere.
Similarly I mentally flinch violently when touched by males who are too low status for my intuition to classify as attractive, have no such reaction for moderately attractive guys, and get a jolt of pleasure if the guy is very attractive. This effect is consistent and something I have no conscious control over.
I think people dismissing status are underestimating either the degree to which people’s unconscious can control their conscious, or the degree to which status interactions controls the unconscious.
Status is not an extremely clear thing to begin with, the same criticism could probably be applied to most uses of the term on LessWrong. I just mentally reparse what you write as
In a less hypothetical case, my reaction to statements like “you’re beautiful” or “your hair looks amazing” depends entirely on who is saying it. It would be considered creepy only if the guy has certain negative characteristics so that my intuition doesn’t process the statement as sincere.
You’re basically talking about how attractive you find him, but using “status” adds the connotations that it’s not just about the looks, and that how others judge him comes into the equation; both those connotations seem true.
Actually, “unwelcome” means that the definition sometimes depends almost exclusively on status. In the extreme situation that a guy is so high status I wouldn’t mind anything he did and would always say yes, he couldn’t possibly be creepy.
In a less hypothetical case, my reaction to statements like “you’re beautiful” or “your hair looks amazing” depends entirely on who is saying it. It would be considered creepy only if the guy was sufficiently low status that my intuition doesn’t process the statement as sincere.
Similarly I mentally flinch violently when touched by males who are too low status for my intuition to classify as attractive, have no such reaction for moderately attractive guys, and get a jolt of pleasure if the guy is very attractive. This effect is consistent and something I have no conscious control over.
I think people dismissing status are underestimating either the degree to which people’s unconscious can control their conscious, or the degree to which status interactions controls the unconscious.
Why am I getting karma for this when it’s been established that I’m using a highly unconventional definition of status? I mean, I like karma and all, but this confuses me...
Status is not an extremely clear thing to begin with, the same criticism could probably be applied to most uses of the term on LessWrong. I just mentally reparse what you write as
You’re basically talking about how attractive you find him, but using “status” adds the connotations that it’s not just about the looks, and that how others judge him comes into the equation; both those connotations seem true.