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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   30411 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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Yes, I am aware of the technical definition. Do you think that those who bandy about the term "groomer" know or care? Or is it more likely that they are using it in the popular sense, in which "the word pedophilia is often applied to any sexual interest in children or the act of child sexual abuse, including any sexual interest in minors below the local age of consent, regardless of their level of physical or mental development"?

Of course they don't, which was exactly my point! The popular definition gets expanded to cover a wider group because people want to exploit the taboo for social power. If you are going to argue it is wrong to expand the definition of groomers, then it was wrong to have expanded the definition of pedophile to the point that "groomer" became synonymous with it.

As for "moaning," are you saying it is OK to make baseless charges of sexual impropriety or base motives? I don't, whether that be the left calling everything "racism" or the right calling everything "grooming."

No, I'm just frustrated that progressive arguments, arguments that the "groomer" narrative targets, used to excuse sexual harassment and abuse I endured growing up are being defended. I'm frustrated that I grew up to find out I'm attracted to kids, but not exclusively, and that those experiences make it extremely difficult to have relationships with the adults I am attracted to. I'm frustrated that rather than asking themselves what they can do to prevent abuse like I experienced, people would rather deflect to the boogieman of pedophilia without concern for what impact that would have on people like me. In short, I see your protestations as nothing more than one last "fuck you" from the people who abused me.

then it was wrong to have expanded the definition of pedophile to the point that "groomer" became synonymous with it

I didn't expand it: that was the original meaning: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/107906328800100207

I see your protestations as nothing more than one last "fuck you" from the people who abused me.

I am sorry that you were abused, but I can assure you that nothing I have said was meant to be a statement about you, about victims of abuse in general, or about sexual offenders.

nothing I have said was meant to be a statement about you, about victims of abuse in general, or about sexual offenders.

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear what I meant by that. My frustration is that I take it that way, regardless of your intent, because of those experiences. It's not your fault that I take it that way, which is why I said it was 'one last "fuck you" from the people who abused me'.

EDIT: Fixed quote and grammar.

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