Pederasty was tolerated in many pre-modern societies around the globe: Ancient Greece famously, but also Japan and some Indian kingdoms, for example. Today we recognize it as very harmful. Is there any evidence of the trauma it must have left on the pre-modern children who were molested? (old.reddit.com)
Why is the Philippine-American War not as well-known in the American collective consciousness, despite acute knowledge of other imperialist debacles like Vietnam and Afghanistan? (old.reddit.com)
Does the history of Irish Republican Army show that terrorism succeeded in achieving their objectives? Could Irish Republicanism have “won” without their militant wing? (old.reddit.com)
After a woman gives birth, what happens to the large round belly? Does it just deflate like a balloon or does it shrink slowly over a period of time? Does it feel "hollow" or "empty"? Is it hard or soft? Is it painful to press it? (old.reddit.com)
Congratulations! You've just gotten married to the protagonist of the last film or show you watched. How is that going to turn out for you? (old.reddit.com)
Parents who "experimented" (sex, drugs, alcohol, etc) a lot during your teen years, would you or would you not have a discussion with your kids when they hit that age, and tell them about your experiences? If you have, what were their reactions? (old.reddit.com)
Considering reproduction and birth is necessary for the continuation of humanity, why did our bodies evolve for childbirth to be so painful? Why didn't we evolve to where childbirth is "easy" or something? (old.reddit.com)
When people today are lost in remote areas like mountains or state parks when lack of cell signal means an easy rescue isn't possible, is it practical to deploy "cheap" helicopters with no more than cell antennas to cover many square miles hovering over likely areas they could be? (old.reddit.com)
Do powerful space telescopes able to see back to a younger, smaller universe see the same thing no matter what direction they face? Or is the smaller universe "stretched" out over every direction? (old.reddit.com)
Most of Japan's former colonies still resent their conquest, years after gaining freedom. But the Taiwanese seem to remember Japanese rule fondly, and have a great relationship with modern Japan. What explains this difference? Did the Japanese treat Taiwan better? (old.reddit.com)
My husband died in 2020 and I discovered after his death that he was gay. Why after a 26 year first marriage did he marry a woman again? (old.reddit.com)
I think that companies , and not people, are the 95% of the cause of pollution and are trying to subtly divert the blame to people and they are actually taking the blame. Am I correct? (old.reddit.com)
How come those who believe in spirits and astrology and the like are ridiculed and made fun of relentlessly, but people who believe in an all powerful wizard in the sky with little winged men doing his bidding somehow “deserve respect”? (old.reddit.com)
Is there something wrong with me for not having ambition? I am perfectly content doing the bare minimum to keep myself housed and fed. My hobbies are free/extremely cheap. But I feel a sense of guilt that I'm not "shooting for the stars" (old.reddit.com)
In the famous clip from the Eric Andre Show "Do you think Margaret Thatcher had Girl Power?" André mentions some sketchy stuff Thatcher did during the Troubles. What *specific* event is he referring to? (old.reddit.com)
I took a cool pic on my phone and my dumb ass chose fix lighting and hit save. How do I get my original lighting photo back? Yes I'm a boomer. Yes I googled it and all it tells me is how to restore deleted photos. Yes I'm an idiot. Yes I'm sorry. Yes I'm desperate. Thank you kind Redditors. (old.reddit.com)
The fantasy trope of a "city guard" was largely nonexistent during the European Middle Ages; was there a premodern society that DID have city guards? (old.reddit.com)
Why does nobody give a care about leatherjackets, wallets, car seats, bags, shoes etc, but as soon as its about fur everybody loses their mind? Isn't it basically the same thing? (old.reddit.com)
Aside from immediately getting sexual; what is a question you’ve been asked which made you immediately “unmatch” a potential date on an app? (old.reddit.com)
Am I wrong or do low paid jobs seem just so much harder? I mean, the workload seems to be a lot higher, so many responsibilities, so much stress, so many people you have to deal with. (old.reddit.com)
Why British Empire bankrupted after WW2, yet USSR did not collapse or become third-rate power (and even grew into superpower), despite suffering much greater devastation and 27 million deaths? (old.reddit.com)
How do vaccine manufactures plan to test new COVID vaccines such as ones designed for the Delta variant now that a large portion of the population is vaccinated and those that aren't are hesitant to take approved vaccines? (old.reddit.com)
The famous horror Theater of Grand Guignol in Paris supposedly had boxes in the back that theater-goers could rent if they became too "aroused" by the production and needed "privacy". How much truth is there to this legend? Were people really having sex in the theater mid-performance? (old.reddit.com)
How do historians working in one language account for work in their subfield written in another language? Is it common for historians to disagree with one another without even knowing on account of language barriers? (old.reddit.com)
Many cultures had customary dowry, paid by the parents of a bride to her groom. Meanwhile, other cultures, often in the same or similar region and period, had a bride price, paid by the groom to the parents of the bride. What factors led to such diametrically opposite customs? (old.reddit.com)
If you're under a mountain, would the slight increase in gravity from being closer to the core be negated by the mass of the mountain above you? (old.reddit.com)
Why is saying offensive things about “straight white men” perfectly acceptable but anything else (e.g.,”gay black man”) is considered incredibly offensive? (old.reddit.com)
It was a common trope in older cartoons like Dudley Doright that the villain would tie the damsel in distress to the train tracks. Have there ever been any reports of that actually happening in North America? (old.reddit.com)
What's with porn ads like "this game will make you cum in 20/30/40 seconds"? Are there people who actually want to speedrun their alone time? (old.reddit.com)
When defeated by his foe Yuan Shao, Three Kingdoms-era general Gongsun Zan committed suicide by setting himself on fire after killing nearly his entire family. Was this jaw-dropping act a sign of insanity or does this have some precedent or meaning behind it? (old.reddit.com)
After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, was there any real effort made by anyone to bring back paganism? Were any prominent figures involved in any such attempted revival, and how was the attempt met by the political forces at the time? (old.reddit.com)
Sessue Hayakawa, a Japanese man, was one of Hollywood's first sex symbols. During the same period, fear of the "Yellow Peril" was at its peak. How did these two things affect each other? (old.reddit.com)
Do Non-Americans really only see all of America as one group of people and not understand that not all Americans think and act the exact same way? (old.reddit.com)
In 1792, France experimented with decimal time, making a day 10 hours, an hour 100 minutes, and a minute 100 seconds. Why did this new standard for timekeeping not take off when so much of the world uses a base 10 system for measuring stuff? (old.reddit.com)
My(21M) first girlfriend (20) of 5 years just cheated on me, on my birthday. I feel a little down, still have feelings for her but right now I really need good music just to get over it. What music should I listen to? (old.reddit.com)
Do you ever have a wave of intense sadness wash over you, and you legit feel like you're gonna go insane from the unbearable agony you feel? (old.reddit.com)
If most matter gets hot as it expands and cools as it contracts, why is it that Freon refrigerant cools down as it goes through expansion? (old.reddit.com)
I have a coworker who keeps telling me about herself. I cannot emphasize how uninterested I am in her life. How do I get out of having to listen to her tell me about her girlfriend in Chicago for the umpteenth time? I just want to do my job (old.reddit.com)
Are anti-LGBTQ+ laws in African countries a colonial import? In other words, what do we know about (what we would today refer to as) LGBTQ+ individuals and communities in pre-colonial Africa communities. (old.reddit.com)
I just read an article that talked about a black woman wanting her record cleared (at 82 years old) after being charged with violating a segregation ordnance when she was 15. She didn’t give up her bus seat to a white Woman. How is her record not cleared? (old.reddit.com)
How did you stop feeling guilty about distancing yourself from your long time female friends who weren't good for you anymore (specially after realizing that their involvement in your life correlated with childish drama)? (old.reddit.com)
Muammar Gaddafi is known as a despot, a murder, and a terrorist in western countries, but I've met several Libyans who loved him. Was his negative reputation in the west warranted by his actions, or the result of him bucking western preferences? (old.reddit.com)
How true is the common argument that the introduction of gunpowder weapons in medieval Europe slowly shifted the balance of power away from the nobility towards the non-noble classes, as now anyone with 2 weeks of training could defeat a heavily armoured knight? (old.reddit.com)
Have you ever dated someone who earned either significantly less or more money than you? What were the unforeseen problems (if any) you encountered? (old.reddit.com)
What is the cultural/historical background of sentient pink blobs in Japanese media (think Chansey, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Kirby, Majin Buu)? (old.reddit.com)
Why do women tell people to watch women's sports when most women don't watch them? If women just watched women's sports then they would be popular but they don't. (old.reddit.com)
Why do billionaires and other very rich individuals try so hard to avoid paying taxes when they will still be rich whether they pay the taxes or not? (old.reddit.com)
I’ve read that fixed pricing was introduced into modern retail by the Quakers, who found the concept of haggling immoral. Is this true and what is the history of fixed pricing? (old.reddit.com)
If the Big Bang created the universe then what created the Big Bang and what created the thing that created the Big Bang and what created the thing that created the thing that created the Big Bang? (old.reddit.com)
How did the Dutch acquire such good relations with the Japanese Shogunate, that only they were allowed to trade and exchange knowledge with them? In 1844, Dutch King William II even sent a letter urging Japan to end the isolation policy on its own before change would be forced from the outside. (old.reddit.com)
By the time the US railroad boom wrapped up in 1916, 254,000 miles of track had been laid, and 40,000 passenger locomotives were in service. Was rail travel affordable for the average person, or just something middle class and rich people used? (old.reddit.com)
Roma has been continuosly inhabited since roman times right? If thats the case then how did the colosseum end up in the state it's in now? Did people not think to do any upkeep over the years? (old.reddit.com)
In "Madness and Civilization" Michel Foucault cites an alleged practice where individuals with cognitive disabilities were loaded on to ships and shuffled around various ports in Renaissance Europe before the medicalization of mental conditions. Is there any verifiable historical basis for this? (old.reddit.com)
When did 5 out of 5 stars start to become the norm, with anything less implying a problematic issue, rather than being reserved for something truly exceptional than goes above and beyond? (old.reddit.com)
California famously enacted gun control when the Black Panthers took to carrying guns. During debate on the bill, the Panthers took guns into the chamber itself -- which seems like it would obviously cause the bill to PASS, not fail. What was their goal with that move? (old.reddit.com)
The American-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion force, which landed in Cuba, was too small to hold territory. Success depended on a large-scale Cuban uprising once they made it ashore. Did the Americans think this was realistic or likely? It seems like gambling on an unlikely outcome . (old.reddit.com)
Most Americans learn about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Bay Colony early in elementary school, and only later learn about earlier settlements such as Jamestown. Is this because someone influential explicitly decided to emphasize the Pilgrims over other early American settlers, and if so, why? (old.reddit.com)
European musketeers did not wear or wore only a little bit of armour. Meanwhile, Japanese Ashigaru and Ming Dynasty musketeers wore armour covering most of their body. Why? And how protective was it? There was no way it would stop a bullet, right? And how economical was it? (old.reddit.com)
I work as a barista in a coffee shop. A woman comes in every day, sits there for the entire evening and during her stay drinks 1,5+ bottles of wine. Is it morally incorrect for me to serve her every day since it’s obvious she has a drinking problem? (old.reddit.com)
If you artificially inseminated say a male Great Dane’s sperm into a female chihuahua, would the female chihuahua have a viable pregnancy, or would it die? (old.reddit.com)
Some friends from the US are coming to visit me in Europe (Denmark). They've never left their country before. How should I prank them? (old.reddit.com)
Are there ANY notable nude statues from Greek and Roman antiquity times that actually featured the vulva or pubic hair? Why is it that for like thousands of years every sculptor used smooth Barbie anatomy on female forms while spending months perfectly chiseling a penis on male forms? (old.reddit.com)
The allied D-Day invasion attacked five beaches. Would the operation have failed if some of the attacks were repulsed? Or was the idea to break through in some so the rest of the beaches could be attacked from behind? (old.reddit.com)
The end of the Portuguese and French empires led to long and bloody wars of independence in Africa and many atrocities. In comparison, it seems that the British empire disappeared in a much more measured and negotiated way. Why this difference between the last colonial empires and their demise? (old.reddit.com)