When people talk about “men” being the problem, they don’t mean that men as a whole have this problem. It’s a problem and it mostly rears its head in men—yeah, usually older white men. And when it shows in (typically older) women, it’s often (if not always) internalized misogyny from years of patriarchal structures shaming and scandalizing women’s bodies.
So saying it’s a “puritanical problem” is really saying that the waspy religious subgroups have outsized power and they’re largely problematic men and they have indoctrinated large groups of younger people and women.
I’ve only played SH2. What was the problem with ascension?