Nothin much happenin over on the other threads so I decided to have a wander down here.
Surpise, surprise, I tend to agree with Yabby --always a font of earthy wisdom.

Those who think (or who have been programmed to see) it as a symptom of capitalism need to look a little deeper.
There are wellsprings & streams deeper & older than capitalism that move all creatures.

[Some background music please]

"And that's why birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it

Cold Cape Cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it
Even lazy jellyfish do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

I've heard that lizards and frogs do it
Layin' on a rock
They say that roosters do it
With a doodle and cock

I'm sure sometimes on the sly you do it
Maybe even you and I might do it"

We seek to differentiate ourselves for advantage --we are in an arms race of sorts -- and humans, because we can, do it so much better.

"Some Argentines, without means do it
I hear even Boston beans do it"

One persons frivolous adornments are another's essentials.

"The most refined lady bugs do it
When a gentleman calls
Moths in your rugs they do it
What's the use of moth balls

The chimpanzees in the zoos do it,
Some courageous kangaroos do it"

And though --depending on your perspective --it can be seen as wasteful. I suspect that if we seek to constrain it too much we may staunch the flow of our creative/innovative juices. To cite an example (that is likely to be close to Squeers heart) as was the case in Maoist China when everyone saved by wearing little grey suits.

And, I'd hazard a guess that even those wiser souls who position themselves far above the madding crowd are playing the same game -even though they may be myopically unaware.

Belgian private ds do it
even Nouveau academes do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love --weeell, maybe not!

Dear SPQR,

Don'r forget -

"Lithuanians and Lets do it!"

Metaphors be with you!

So (as this thread appears to be winding down) it seems that most of the women who contribute to OLO do so as authors of articles, often joining the article's section as commenters on their own articles. There now exists only a very small cohort of women who post in both sections regularly.

Obviously, there's something about the style and content of debate here that doesn't appeal to average feminine sensibilities (I think :)

We've ranged a little off the initial debate, Poirot, but I can't let Yabby entirely off the hook before the curtain falls.
Ok, Yabby, I accept your rationalising of the current dispensation as the best of all possible worlds so far as it caters nicely for a great many people's expectations and fulfilment (though decidedly not my own, and there is no way to opt out or lead a viable alternative lifestyle btw), but what about my other two clauses, that it's "physically unsustainable and morally insupportable". Since you've been dutifully reading your National Geographic, or equivolent, of late, you'll know that we need several more Earths to support our "lifestyles" en masse, and you'll know that of the finite resources available we consume more than the lion's share. It's not just about fulfilment; it's about the fact too that while we find fulfilment the other half starves. There is no defence of the current state of affairs that can be made to tally with our professed science or our professed ethics. It's nothing but "irrational positivism", that is rationalisation and I abhor your equanimity!

Correction, I meant "irrational optimism", playing on the title of Matt Ridley's garbage.

Dear Poirot,

Thanks for this thread. I wonder statistically how
many women used to post to this forum in the past
as compared to now. It would be interesting to look
at the numbers.

I can understand Squeers' concern about our lifestyles.
We can replace material goods with a range of pleasures that
don't do harm to the environment. In this sense we will
be richer with less. As Tor Hundloe pointed out some time
ago, "Man's war with the earth is becoming dangerous to both.
It is time for a truce."

Hundloe stresses that, "You and I as
global citizens need to put aside
our narrow self interests
and work together as friends
if there is to be a world for those humans and other
animals who follow us...
real happiness is not the fleeting
euphoric of a shopping expedition or sexual pursuit... "

If someone asks me what makes me happiest, it's never anything
I can quantify like a house or a possession or something I
can touch. It's the spirit of the human being, which can
fill me with more joy than anything in the world.
Sorry - I'm getting ccarried away. Time to stop.