[LundiHvalursson]

I have noticed here that a lot of people on this forum, especially males, are single/virgin to an older-than-average age, such as in their 30s, 40s, 50s or older, despite not choosing to do so, but rather due to having trouble in the romance department. And that this is a societal taboo, since the rules are usually made arbitrarily. Since these rules are more or less in place, people often shame, bully and make fun of those who are single and/or virgin, whether or not they have ASD. It is known that socially awkward people, especially those with ASD, generally have more problems in finding partners than neurotypicals and naturally social people.

In countries like the UK, there are very strict rules regarding bullying, even just written or oral bullying. "Free speech" is not a valid defence in these cases, and people can go to gaol even, if I understand correctly. In countries like USA, which take free speech to an extreme, I doubt that this happens. At least, bullying and shaming single/virgin people seems to be quite common in USA. In countries like China or Iran, there are generally heavy restrictions on what one can say, and I would guess that shaming/bullying could easily end up being criminal offences.

Should the governments of countries introduce legislation to categorise shaming people for being single and/or virgin as hate speech such that single/virgin shaming is a medium-level criminal offence? Following UK bullying laws, the penalty could be spending a year or so in gaol, or paying a fine, or whatever.

[divine1966]

I am certainly against bullying.

I don’t understand though how you plan on criminalizing bullying singles as some type of separate group of people. I doubt most singles want to be identified as a separate group of people.

Bullying is bullying. I believe law enforcement takes it case by case.

I am not sure if people in U.K. really go to jail for making fun of singles. Do you have a link to that law?

[LundiHvalursson]

No, I said that the UK have fairly strict anti-bullying laws. I was saying if governments like those could incorporate shaming single/virgin people into their already existent anti-bullying laws.

In other words, like how in some countries it is illegal or at least coming close to illegal to make fun of physically disabled people, that governments could categorise people who are single/virgin at older ages as a special group, such that making fun of them for their issue would be a criminal offence.

[3rd rock]

How do you have anti-bullying laws? I mean without completely regulating every single component of everyone's day to day lives, in a manner that makes 1984 look positively libertine. You can criminalise harassment, and you can launch all kinds of initiatives aimed at promoting voluntary anti-bullying, but it's impossible to outright legislate against bullying.

[sarahsweets]

I do not think bullying can be subdivided.