endecision replied to your post “http://klefable.tumblr.com/post/165376984834 If a woman you knew...”
that seems like an overly charitable interpretation - as far as I can tell they're saying they think emotional labor ought to be paid for with sex, which is gross
I think it’s less “emotional labour ought to be paid for with sex” and more “any amount of emotional labour outside of a romantic relationship is too much, this is not a thing you’re supposed to say you want and if you say you want it you’re signalling romantic interest but then not following through” with a side of “women, am I right”. Which in practice works out the same- shitty guys acting like they’re entitled to women’s bodies because women were nice to them one time and being enormous sexist pricks when the women in question go “wtf no”.
But I think this problem has a lot in common with the “why do men send dick pics” thing. It’s really easy to read malign intentions onto someone who’s behaving badly- and this is bad behavior! Assuming that anyone who wants to have an emotionally intimate relationship with you wants to boink you is really unhealthy for everyone involved, especially the person who just wants to be friends with you!
But if the problem isn’t “these gross people believe a gross thing”. it’s “there is a fundamental difference in assumptions between how AFAB and AMAB people are socialized”, then a much higher number of people are suffering for no good reason, and fixing “it is socially unacceptable to talk about your displeasure with this situation” will not fix the socialization difference.
I’m going to steal some language from @avertingtheflamewars for a hypothetical (and thank you for giving us a set of non-emotionally-charged words that work well):
Imagine a society where people don’t use doorknobs. You’re expected to lever open doors with your fingernails. If you can’t do this- say, you’re carrying a load of groceries- it’s (sort of) acceptable to ask a romantic partner or a family member for help. If you ask an unrelated person to help you open a door, this is basically an expression of romantic interest.
You go from this society to the society where people are sane and use doorknobs or push bars or what have you. Someone attractive opens a door for you and holds it open, out of basic decency. You think “wow, someone opened a door for me? And I wasn’t carrying anything heavy? Clearly they must be into me!” and ask “hey you opened the door, do you want to get coffee later?”
The person says “no” and is confused or even disgusted with you for making this connection. If you are basically a decent human being, your initial thought is “what did I do wrong? maybe I’m not holding open enough doors for pretty people? maybe I had something in my teeth?” If you’re not, you go on the internet and shout about how ARGLEDY BARGLE WHY DO DOORKNOB PEOPLE HOLD OPEN DOORS AND THEN NOT BANG YOU CLEARLY THEY ARE BAD PEOPLE!!!1!
Saying “uh, you’re not entitled to boink people because they opened a door for you” until it sticks will make it less likely that you’ll hear the ARGLEDYBARGLE, if only because it will eventually become socially unacceptable to say that kind of thing out loud. But it doesn’t fix the problem- the one where half of everyone thinks they have to pry open doors with their fingernails and that if someone does the basic pleasantry of holding a door for you that they want to boink you.
If you don’t fix the problem, you wind up with a lot of people who are confused and unhappy for no good reason- no-doorknob-people thinking they’re unloveable because people keep opening doors for them and then going “no, wtf is wrong with you” and doorknob-people getting a lot of unwanted romantic attention from not-doorknob-people when they’re just trying to go about their lives.
Okay, that was a really ham-handed metaphor, but ... you get my meaning, right?