#and by afternoon i totslly dont mean i wrote this all at like 1 am last night

[mariaiscrafting]

here's something that bothers me a ton, actually:

I hate how some of the ccs act like Tommy and Tubbo and Ranboo aren't minors and just go ahead and make jokes they shouldn't around them, especially when one of them is visibly uncomfortable about them.

Like, can we talk about the fact that, out of everyone who regularly interacts with Tommy, I think Jack and Techno and Wilbur and Phil are the only adults who don't make sexual jokes around them? Or that Wilbur is the only one who consistently tries to stand up for them when ccs do say something uncomfortable, like one time when he said Tubbo was only 16 and moved on when someone made a sexual comment, or when he tried to get Tommy out of the situation with Dream and Ninja making sexual jokes? Or that, every Jackbox stream he's in, without fail, has someone making sexual jokes around Ranboo and he just has to awkwardly laugh it off because what else is he supposed to say to these older, successful people who've given him his audience and platform?

I also see shit on Twitter all the time that's like "don't get offended over jokes you'd make around your own friends," and "if Tommy was uncomfortable with it, do you really think he'd still be friends with Dream," and honestly, what kinda naive, fallacious thinking is this? First of all, this is very different from teenagers on Twitter making sexual jokes around other teenagers because when you're both minors, it's less predatory. Second of all, just because Tommy or Tubbo instigate sexual jokes themselves sometimes does not at all mean adult ccs should be engaging. They're fucking children, of course they're going to make sexual jokes, but at the end of the day, they're too uncomfortable to seriously engage with the topic because they're minors. The job of the adult ccs is to shut it down, like phil and wilbur with the "hardened clay" bit tubbo was going on about and techno whenever tommy tries to make sexual jokes. Third of all, do you really think that, if someone is a hegemon within the industry upon which you base your livelihood, you'd want to do anything to antagonize their fanbase? Of course none of the Dream SMP members are ever going to say something to criticize Dream, if his SMP is basically what fast-tracked most of their careers. And fourth of all, you can still be friends with someone while being uncomfortable with particular things they do/have done. Unlike the types on mcyttwt, normal people don't just disown friends for singular differences of opinions, mistakes, etc., so no, I highly doubt anyone would stop being friends with one of the ccs just because their sexual jokes make them uncomfortable.

The two things that made me really consider making this post were: the bit about how Tommy can legally have sex and Ranboo's adamance about not being sexualised during his solo streams. First off, what the fuck was that? Why were Dream and Sapnap seriously trying to argue the finer points about how it's supposedly ridiculous to tell them off for making sexual jokes around Tommy just because the age of consent in England is 15/16? That's such a bad take, why is that the hill they chose to die on? They're really going to pull an "age of consent" argument like that same thing isn't used by abusers, groomers, pedophiles, and their apologists constantly. People use it to excuse age differences in sexual relationships way too often, and to see them two use it to excuse making sexual jokes/advances onto Tommy? JFC. Second off, I get that most of the ccs probably don't really see Ranboo as a child for a combination of reasons: his height, lowered voice, maturity as compared to Tommy and Tubbo, lack of face reveal, etc. Still, that they so casually make sexual jokes that they actually expect him to engage with, especially during Jackbox streams, just speaks to their irresponsibility and failure to reign in their language. And the thing that really tips me off to something being wrong is that Ranboo usually just goes with the bit and laughs it off during those streams, but then during his own streams, any time the subject is even lightly touched upon, he's so fucking adamant about his distaste for being sexualized, even by people his own age? He's so secure in his own boundaries when it comes to setting his own audience straight, and it just makes me sad as fuck to think that he can't be as stern about announcing them around those who are essentially his colleagues.

Anyways, I just really, really want to see the ccs stop putting Tubbo, Ranboo, and Tommy in uncomfortable positions just because they can't control their humor around literal children.