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"A lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock" analogy, TRUE or NOT?

"A lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock" analogy, TRUE or NOT?
When it comes to an argument about amount of sexual partners, I see a lot of guys mentioning this. I'm just wondering how many of you think the analogy is true or not. The first part of the phrase goes "A key that can open many locks is a master key".

I've always thought the analogy was strange since you can also say the same about a pencil and a pencil sharpener.

I personally think neither the key & lock and pencil & sharpener analogies are true/valid, but that's just my opinion.
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Most Helpful Guys

  • This analogy is true but for reasons.
    Women hold the power for when sex happens and with whom.
    Therefore women are expected to guard that with some level of scrutiny.
    Like a gatekeeper would be responsible for only letting permitted people in, a gatekeeper who simply lets anyone in is a shitty gatekeeper.

    Men have to work and prove themselves to get sex. We have to work for it. We don't get to simply pick and choose. Therefore we are able to get sex, we generally have to take it because we might not get it against for a while.

    The analogy I use is the fat American vs the starving African.
    A fat American has an abundance of food at its disposal and can pick and choose when and what they eat. SO when they eat like pigs, they are called gluttons because they have no standard of what they put in themselves. (This is the female)

    Men are the African's who need to hunt for food, it isn't readily available. SO when they do get food, even if it isn't the best food. They take it because they may not eat again for a while. If an African is good at finding and getting food for himself then he isn't seen as a glutton, he has a skill and a keen ability to get something that others find hard to gather.

    • Well, that doesn't really apply to celebrities and very good looking men, and in many cases rich men too.

    • You are right it doesn't but a general concept does not excuse a universal truth. MOST men are not rich or very good looking (where in this analogy doesn't work)

  • I am not an advocate of promiscuous behavior but it is a bad analogy, A lock is an inanimate object and its utility is judged solely by the person using the lock. Guys using this as an analogy for sexual behavior suggests that a woman's sexual behavior should be judged solely by the subjective desires of men (the users, or consumers, of women.) Also, the performance of a lock is not enhanced by its previous uses, whereas there is some learning of sexual behaviors that occurs with experience.

    A better analogy might be, "Who would get excited about opening a Christmas gift from me if I told them, 'I am giving you a wonderful gift to open but I will take it back, re-wrap it, and give it to someone else a few days from now?'"

    Analogies sometimes imbue an argument with a false sense of greater wisdom, but they are unnecessary on this subject. For me, the bottom line is this: Do you want to have sex with me because it is a recreational activity that will feel good tonight, or do you want to have sex with me as an expression of your affection and trust for me and because it is the next step in making our relationship closer? And. . . the same standard should apply to men and women.

Most Helpful Girls

  • It's true when it comes to actual locks. But a woman is a human being, not a hunk of metal designed for keeping doors shut.

    I'm not a proponent of promiscuity in either gender, but I believe that sex is a personal, private decision and that every person has the right to have sex in a way that feels right to them personally. That goes for all human beings- no double standards, please.

  • dumb analogy. based on the misconception that women do not actually love sex in their own right.

    assuming sex is consensual and humans are naturally sexually inclined, the 'lock' is anyone who another person wants to fuck. not sex based.

  • I mean the lock is just changed for a different key all the time. Lmao.

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What Girls & Guys Said

2 35

  • It's true in the sense that it's shining light on the double standard that it's far, far, far easier for women to find a guy to have sex with than vice versa. It's false in the sense that it implies negativity for the women having multiple partners.

  • its not true at all because even if you have a key to a door it does n ot mean that door will have anything f value behind for you if your only looking for one thing.

    so its best t get to know who lives behind that door so when you are able to use the key there will be something there and it isn't always what people expect when they find what it is behind that locked door.

  • It's true of the lock, but not the key. Guys who boast about having a "master key" are simply promiscuous, which isn't a good quality in either sex.

  • well i think its hypocrisy. One thing for girls and Exactly opposite for Boys. If a girl has many friends she becomes a slut while a guy decieving girls is known as a player and is considered very cool.

  • It is true, but it shouldn't be. Sex is just as valuable and enjoyable to a woman as it is to a man, so we, as a society should stop viewing sex as a gift from women to men.

    The analogy also showcases a twinge of hypocrisy. I am against sexual promiscuity, and I favor sexual modesty, but for *both* genders. Meaning, I believe that women's virginities hold value, but I believe that men's do too (namely, my own).

    In other words: Most people criticize women for promiscuity, but praise men for promiscuity. I, on the other hand, criticize both women and men for promiscuity.

    • You're missing a crucial but very basic detail: men and women are different, on so many levels. You can't if something applies to men then it is the same for women, because men and women are not the same. It's not about hypocrisy. It's about each gender having their own behaviours.

    • can't say*

    • @MoreThanFriends That's just a bullshit excuse to justify your hypocrisy. The only differences between men and women are purely physical. Whatever differences you think there are between men and women, they don't warrant different (and unfair) treatment.

  • it depends, there are two type of ladies , one who prefer sex and the other who prefer relationship... and my personal opinion is that it is true when it comes to sex type ladies... but not so for the relationship gals... cause they thought about a future together and by her or his fault it ended badly... so I can't blame her...(it is something I learned after interacting with ladies here... , if it was old me I would say that no sex should happen only after marriage... but I learned that ladies are getting raped against their will sometimes and if I treat all of them equally then I am a fool... so you taught me something.. but it is not acceptable in my society cause here it isn't the case... it might be because I grow up in military area that I had not seen the true nature of my society but till now nothing happened... so I keep believing that it is better in my case...)

  • I think it's rather true... sex is a serious thing. I don't believe in sex for pleasure :-(
    So if the girl has had several partners that's okay, but if she's just having fun in bed she's not my type :-(

  • For me, I hate promiscuity. Despise it in fact but, I would say the analogies are worthless and useless.

  • It's true in the sense that being a keybthat opens locks is a lot harder/impressive, than being a lock that gets opened. But it's not true in the sense that it has any ethical/moral implications: the lock is not a lesser person than the key.

  • Slut shame, but at the same time want girls to be easier to get. It's stupid bullshit hypocrisy.

    • It's not hypocrisy, it's simply more nuanced than your tiny brain is capable of processing.

  • True when it comes to locks. People are not locks.

  • It's a crap analogy because the entire point of a lock is to keep people out who don't have the key. Doesn't really translate to human relationships...

  • Yikes... I would call a locksmith

  • The only men that use that ideology are filthy degenerates who embrace casual sex and toying with women's emotions instead of monogamy and starting families.

  • or someone decided to make a bunch of keys to open the lock

    • True...

  • If you got a quality lock there will be only one key that matches...

  • True, but with this note: girls aren't the locks and guys aren't the keys. We are both. A guy who CAN get any girl is a stud, but a guy who DOES get every girl abuses his own sexuality. As a bisexual guy, I do NOT want a guy or girl who I know has had a large number of partners, and I'm sure many people, guy and girl, are of the same opinion.
    So, yes, the lock and key analogy works, just differently than most perceive it.

  • The analogy is not very good but your wrong in taking this as an "argument " or a true/false analogy. Women are free to choose to have as many sexual partners as they please. Most men see the women they have casual sex with and the women they have LTR/marraige with differently, that's not an argument or analogy it's a choice that men make with their head and their heart. It's just like women being reluctant to get into an ltr with a guy who hasn't gotten his life together or has no future prospects. The key analogy is more of a joke than anything.

  • I can't say I think that analogy is true at all

  • Of course a lock that can be opened by many keys is a shitty lock. It's against the purpose of the lock. However in my opinion to me that's bullshit because it's like saying women should be like a lock. It's their purpose is to be like a lock which isn't.. That's just me because I totally don't give a shit about people's sex life. To people who does care I can see why it makes total sense.

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