#cw grooming mentioned.

[curiousorigins]

This is true. Having a wide variety of friends allow you to have wider networks to help you solve potential problems or even have them help you find out what something about a situation feels not good. Which in turn may help you leave a situation that you wouldn't have.

There's a reason why a lot of abusers isolate their victims first thing. People with people are harder to control. Because their loved ones will point out when they think they're not being cared for and they can rely on their wider network to shore up any insecurities or self esteem issues.

Adult friends aren't necessarily bad even as a kid. I had a million friends' parents who acted as like bonus parents for me or gave me advice that I couldn't get from my own guardian situation. More people loving and caring for you isn't bad. But there's also nothing wrong with closely examining a situation to decide if it is or continues to be a safe place for you. And adults have more experience navigating those things. If an adult's or older person's behavior is setting off alarm bells... please ask other adults what they think about it. Not only do you get the bonus of another perspective, you also have alerted concerning behavior that will make it easier to believe and accept if something does happen.

seeing a lot of takes recently (and this was popular during john green’s time here too) that adults who make content targeted towards kids or teens are automatically, not just cringe, but suspect? which is such an insane thing to believe because like…..who else would be writing books for 8-year olds? other 8-year olds? learn to just admit you don’t like someone or their work without implying they’re a pedophile, my god

[porcelaintoybox23]

One of the darkest aspects of atsv is how Gwen was groomed. When Jess and Miguel took her in, I got "vibes," so to speak. The trailers obviously didn't help, but those painted Miguel in a bad light, unlike Jess.

Gwen, a 15-16 year old, goes with these two in the heat of a tense moment. I don't think anyone had ill intentions, but that doesn't negate the results.

I was shocked when we learned that Gwen hadn't gone home in months. Jess and Miguel become her whole world and take on the roles of her parental figures. In this time, she has become emotionally dependent on them and their approval. Gwen is scared to disappoint them. She's threatened with being returned to her dimension with no support, a place where last anyone saw, her father was trying to arrest her for murder.

Jess uses Gwen's admiration and dependence to manipulate her. She knows Gwen fears letting her down. She goes from being smiley and supportive to blunt and cold.

Gwen is scared. Whether they intended to or not, Miguel and Jess essentially groomed and emotionally abused her. The second she justifiably makes a mistake or just acts like a normal teen who lacks interpersonal relationships, they send her home.

At any point did they try to help Gwen reconcile with her dad? What did they tell her so she'd be fine with her father dying?

I know the dictionary definition is more of a nsfw nature, but I do believe it can occur in just a manipulative manner. They took in a vulnerable child, manipulated her, and threw her out.

Her whole arc reads like a kid disowned for coming out.

Note: I'm a black woman. It's not my job to make you guys feel comfortable with a clearly uncomfortable topic. Complain to the studio who wrote the film. I no longer argue with people who assume the worst of my posts or misinterpret what I painstakingly try to clarify. I don't care. It's my post, and I shall delete and block whoever I want. I'm not the government.

Like it or not, Jess and Miguel, grown adults, take a child with them. They are responsible for her. That is how that works. POC aren't free from criticism. POC can be evil to white women. This is a fictional movie, bitch to the studio who made them the obvious bad guys.

Thank you 😊

[messiahzzz]

i have been thinking a lot about mystra’s relationship with gale, how reducing her to “his ex” really is an understatement. she was and still is so much more than that. moreover, using the term “ex-girlfriend” in relation to her plainly feels wrong and diminishes the influence she has over him, as well as the role she played in his life since his childhood (and it also trivializes the abuse he suffered through her).

there are several instances where gale gets defensive when his companions mention or ask him abt mystra. he claims that their relationship was no less real even though most of their interactions were incorporeal.

we have already established that gale is an unreliable narrator in this particular case, still not having fully come to terms with the fact that he was groomed, manipulated and abused. he ping-pongs between bouts of realization (even in his romance), gaining clarity that he was merely used and eventually discarded and that mystra never truly cared for him, back to making light of his situation, idealizing her once again. realizing the extent of his trauma, that he is indeed a victim in this scenario, unlearning what he has been made to believe from a young age is a slow and painful journey. he is in the process of healing, but it takes time. time he deserves just like anyone else.

which makes me wonder what their relationship really looked like, once the lines between teacher, muse, and lover began to blur. i also feel like one of the reasons why part of the fandom still struggles to identify mystra as his abuser, is because she is a white woman who initially presents herself in a soft-spoken, benevolent manner… and well, the fact that gale himself is ambitious to a fault and a lil insane about the promise of power. he also briefly mentions "crossing mystra’s boundaries” when he confides in tav and tells them about his folly. (“i am, after all, the villain in this story.”) which led to a looooot of misinterpretations.

leaving the overall lore and mystra’s treatment of her other chosen aside — what we can discern from her interactions with gale in-game, is that mystra is civil as long as she remains in control and gale follows her demands, but as soon as there’s even a slight mention of challenging her power or defying her rule, she rather quickly changes her tone.

there is also one particular exchange between them that just won’t leave my head:

“you were many things to me, but never a threat. and never a savior."

even if we choose to blatantly ignore the fact that mystra is a deity, his goddess - there is no possible way that their relationship ever could have been equal by any mortal standards. the power imbalance that comes with her being his teacher and a symbol of his admiration, plus the sheer control she holds over him and his powers are simply too great. don’t even let me get started on how it is a common tactic of abusers to isolate their victims from any outside influences so they can exert full control over them. and how up to meeting tav and their merry band of misfits, every single soul he was close to was inevitably tied to mystra in one way or another. he briefly mentions his colleagues and then there’s elminster, also mystra’s chosen and former lover, and tara, who is a fine wizard in her own right. he spend so many years in service of her, dedicating his life to her, that now there is no one left he can truly call a friend. most of his little anecdotes and stories he tells are restricted to his childhood and university days, everything else was mystra.

evidently, ordering gale to detonate the orb is the most efficient course of action in her eyes. he is just as expendable as any other mortal, after all. maybe once significantly more useful given his status and the extent of his powers, but she doesn’t feel sorrow nor remorse for ordering him to end his life. his death is simply the most convenient means to an end.

another thing i would also like to briefly touch upon is the trigger/detonator itself. a dagger to the heart. it could have been literally anything else, a simple incantation. it is well within mystra’s power to stabilize the orb and also to remove it from his body entirely. but no, what she requires of gale is to stab himself. one might argue that it was simply a cinematic choice meant for a more dramatic effect, but it really leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. especially considering the fact that she is commonly known and referred to as a jealous goddess. it almost makes it seem like yet another form of punishment or mere pettiness. after his long period of isolation, gale is now surrounded by fellow humans. people he cares about, even perhaps people he might eventually consider good friends — which is enough of a reason for him to not want to die, to keep going and try to find another way, rather than to blindly follow mystra’s bidding. now there’s a group of people who support him and are genuinely invested in him staying alive. hmmm...

[sc0moftheanimatiomindustry]

I am so immensely tired that people are STILL blaming Ang, one of Kyle's victims, and call her "just as bad" for coping with Invader Zim nsfw she kept on a PRIVATE account

now youtuber "saberspark" talked about the situation in an hour long video and did exactly that, he said "both of them are bad"

Kyle is a pedophile who was arrested for owning 600 child sexual abuse images. You CANT compare that to someone lewding Invader Zim characters, they don't exist!

But hey, apparently both Kyle and Saberspark were totally cool with posting this, yet Ang is the one who isn't a real victim and has to hide

He also defended an adult waiting to reciprocate a minor's crush until the minor "was at least 20"

[shizukateal]

I understand the buzz over the new chainsaw man chapter because yeah, it is a big moment, development, deliberately meant to be shocking, etc. But if your reaction is like, genuine upset or disgust, or to be more precise the idea that Fujimoto "shouldn't have gone there" or that he crossed some line or whatever... like, you lost me. What about showing jizz onscreen of all things is any more unfiltered than the rest of the story? Wasn't it obvious from day 1 that something like this was going to happen eventually???? When has Fujimoto ever shied away from the fact that sex is kinda gross and visceral? What about this handjob is any worse than the myriad of times Denji and other characters were being groomed????? Btw I'm asexual.

[pricegouge]

i'm still not fully comfortable writing realdad!price and will likely continue with the stepcest buffer if i ever write for that dynamic again, but here are some things i think work better with your actual father for... reasons

cw (besides the obv): implied grooming, noncon/dubcon voyeurism, tradwife training, piss kink, possessiveness, menstruation

when you're older and price is really starting to test the limits of what he can get you to do for him, how far he can train and mold you into that perfect little housewife roll he'd always hoped for you (greeting him by the door with a happy smile and kiss on the cheek, a roast finishing in the oven, timed perfectly to be ready when you're done removing his shoes for him and massaging the ache from his knee), he rewards you with your favorite pet name from when you were a kid dragging around your cute dollies, said now with a different kind of reverance. 'little mama,' he mutters, and revels in the way it makes you squirm, always happy to know you've been taking care of something just right. he watches as you keep squirming about it late into the night, doesn't even feel bad about it - you've known about the nanny cam in your room for years now, sweetheart. if you don't want him to see, you should save it for the shower

i know i'm a broken record atp, but piss kink 😵‍💫 just imagine how much he'd tease you the first time he makes you squirt. 'thought you were past this phase,' he laughs, balling up your soaked sheets

speaking of kink, i think he definitely treats it the same way loosey goosey parents treat underage drinking. he'd rather you try it at home where he can keep you safe, baby. you want to try something you saw on one of your big girl sites? don't be shy, come to papa. he'll take care of you, show you how to do it properly. make sure you have a good time. he just wants to be sure you're prepared (he has no intention of letting you use the what you've learned with anyone else)

period sex. period care in general, really. he'd be sooooo sweet about it i just know it. (by sweet I mean he'd be bullying your cervix every chance he got because it's right there, all swollen and descended, and it's a safe time of the month for that,right?) would also think his dicks a cure-all for cramps but he's probably right about that so we let it slide

[jesncin]

reading up on more Conner comics and I think it's sad that at the heart of it, his story is that of a boy forced to grow up too soon. Everything from "Don't call me Superboy" (because he wants to be SuperMAN) to the way he's constantly groomed and objectified by older characters and the narrative itself (which weirdly continues into the Young Justice cartoon), to the way he tries to emulate a sense of self from the idea he has of those around him (his performative machismo as a rock star superhero to wondering whether he's more like Superman or Lex Luthor).

Even when they give him stories where he goes to school and lives some kind of normal teen life-there's never a big enough acknowledgement that it's what he needs more than anything (or they fall into the trappings of still treating him like he's older than he is). This kid skipped out on his childhood and popped out as a confused teenager, but narratively he's treated like a younger hunky Superman.

There's a lot of compelling story there! But I think since it's really popular in fandom to re-imagine Conner as POC, to be really careful about how all those themes get amplified and re-contextualized with racial identity. Being forced to grow up too soon is a common experience among POC and especially Black kids with how they get profiled through racism. Just all things to consider! I feel like when fanon just treats POC Conner as a re-skin of white Conner we're in danger of repeating a worse version of canon's problems.

[xanderisbraindead]

Ava kris tyson and cody ko being exposed around the same time is amazing evidence ab how when a neurotypical cishet christian white guy is a bad person its “this guy sucks” but with everyone else its like “wow all black people are robbers” “all muslims are terrorists” “all trans ppl are pedophiles” “all mentally ill ppl are unsafe to be around”

This isn’t a trans issue, its a pedophilia issue. It’s a consent issue. It’s a grooming issue. Anyone can be a sexual abuser, not just one demographic of people

LGBTQ+ youth are nearly four times as likely to experience child sexual abuse than their straight peers. LGBTQ+ adults are 2-3x more likely to experience sexual violence than straight adults. Source

There is no evidence to support the idea that LGBTQ people are more likely to be sex offenders. In fact, sex offenders are disproportionately likely to be heterosexual men- source

[rosebridal]

narrative foil antagonism at its best

[lilybug-02]

Sorry to bring this up, but you used to draw with a guy under the name GameTheSoldier right? Have you seen what he recently posted?

Yes. For starters, I want to reiterate that anyone reading this post NEEDS TO BLOCK HIM. He is an online predator and emotional manipulator.

Trigger Warning Below: (Mentions of manipulation, predatory behavior, grooming, and pornography)

Me and 2 of my close tumblr friends would draw with him constantly on magma.io (all of 2022). He had strange tendencies of guilting us into drawing late into the night and emotionally breaking our characters. February of last year both of my friends came out and told me that he had been talking and drawing with them more privately. He had asked and guilted them into drawing pornography and extremely violent artworks of his and their characters. Both were underage.

I can tell you that what he has "admitted" in his most recent post is not even close to what he actually did.

Gamethesoldier, as a 22+ year old man, targeted MULTIPLE minors online, heavily MANIPULATED them, started long and serious relationships with them, and MANY more disgusting acts with pornography and gore. I went to the police last year, but was unable to get him arrested as he and his victims were in different countries and I myself was not one of his victims.

What he has done is unacceptable, despicable, and criminally illegal. One of my friends was heavily impacted by his actions and is still clearly shaken by what happened. They are at no fault for any of what he did.

For respect to my friends, I kept this quiet, deleting all of my art with him. But recently I saw he was with another magma.io group and... I could NOT let that stand. He does not deserve pity or empathy. He is a criminal and one who has manipulated minors to a horrifying degree.

I apologize for the extreme degree of this post. But I wanted to make it clear, he is not a good person.

[marshadellow]

A huge and important callout, because we are tired. Please share

[sage-writes-n-coins-mogai]

Proof that minors are being groomed by PRATS.

This user thinks that the age of consent should be abolished, and that children of any age should be allowed to be in sexual relationships with adults and thinks you can’t be youth lib if you disagree with this. Everyone with a brain knows that, yes, pubescent minors can consent, TO EACH OTHER.

There’s nothing wrong with teenagers having sex, but it’s not healthy for them mentally, to engage in sexual relationship with grown ass adults even if it’s “consensual” as the consent that teenagers give to adults is usually the result of prior grooming (I should know because that happened with me) and there’s countless reliable studies and victim word of mouth recounts proving this.

Children can’t consent to adults, simple as that and hope that “AAM” radqueers realise this and get help.

This account also thinks that “cracker” is just as bad as a slur for white people as the n-word is for black people even though cracker doesn’t have the horrible history behind it like the n-word does, so yeah there’s that…

Conclusion: Radqueers are groomers, pass it on.

[sc0moftheanimatiomindustry]

Kyle Carrozza is a prime example of the present day issue of people being too distracted by fictional media and drawings to notice abusers amongst them. Kyle directed ire towards one of his victims' art, Got others to lash out for him, and positioned himself as the victim in it all

naturally the core issue here is abusive workplaces and abusive industry networks. However, it wasn't retained to JUST the industry. Kyle gladly encouraged the public shaming and harassment of said victim, which went on for at least 4 years to RUIN their name and credibility

This online environment allowed Kyle Carrozza to completely decimate his victim's credibility and name. They didn't want them to be able to ever have another job again, every randos go to response was: "Isn't _ a pedophile?" because of art they made.

And that's not even counting the fact that Kyle and others literally made social media accounts with his victim's FULL NAME going “[full name] is a pedophile", reposting their supposed 'pedophilic' 'criminal' artwork for the world to see, and using the victim's favorite type of bird as account icons to mock them

That's not "setting a boundary" like his friends (mainly Jane Amber and Tony Goldmark) liked and like to imply, that was targeted defamation, abuse, and harassment with intent to harm.

Kyle weaponized the current media discourse in film, art and fandom circles which is: "What you draw is what you want in real life, and what you draw can reveal criminal intent" and ran with it. His target was people who warned about his predatory behavior, he couldn't have that

Behind the scenes he'd like tweets from other figures actively harassing and defaming his target, keeping his hands clean of it all while others went out as attack dogs on his behalf. All the while he possessed 600+ instances of CSAM and had a YEARS long history of grooming

Allowing the focus to center on media contents alone gives potential future victims a false sense of security that’s allowing actual groomers free reign. It prioritizes taking a Good vs Evil approach instead of paying attention to what predatory BEHAVIOR actually entails in real life

Instead of people evaluating what each individual person is doing (how they treat them and how they treat others behind closed doors) people take the approach of 'Oh you're on the Good side! You're Safe!' Instead prioritizing room to attack people innocent of any actual crimes

You can't tell who is safe based on what media they consume or put out, just like being a bible thumper doesn't indicate one's morality. You need to pay attention to their actions and TEACH people red flags and warning signs they can apply to ANY person/situation for safety

[intothedysphoria]

Stranger Things has a serious problem with the way it portrays working class men.

In Eddie Munson’s first real introduction in the show, he is established as intense, cynical and somewhat of a societal dropout. None of these characteristics are particularly new in the world of Stranger Things but one thing Eddie says really sticks in my mind.

“Forced conformity. That’s what’s killing the kids.”

In the Duffers eyes I’m sure that’s just a way to establish Eddie as an outcast but what he ends up eluding to is an extremely depoliticised explanation of cultural hegemony. Established by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci, cultural hegemony is the ruling class dictating cultural ideology and behaviour via institutional and social messaging. (In this case, the media creating a Satanic Panic around Dungeons and Dragons and encouraging parents to force their children to conform.)

Ironic, seeing as the privately educated Duffer’s are dictating what they allow to be seen as working class culture but I digress.

The Duffer’s have an extremely rigid view of what a working class man acts like and despite a show that preaches about the right to be different, that right is ultimately only given to the middle class characters. Working class characters are always fulfilling some kind of classist stereotype.

Take four examples here. Billy, Eddie, Jonathan and Argyle. On the surface, four distinctive and different characters. But once you start noticing the similarities, it’s hard to stop.

All of them are either confirmed to be from an unconventional family unit or don’t have family at all. There’s nothing wrong with coming from a non nuclear family but the way the Duffers portray them, there is always something “wrong.”

Billy has an abusive father and his mother left him at a young age, Jonathan has an abusive father and his mother has mental health difficulties, Eddie is living with his uncle and it’s implied that his father is incarcerated, Argyles parents aren’t there at all. Notice how the middle class families rarely have this level of domestic discord (especially with the point the Duffers make about all working class fathers being shitty parents. The only exceptions seem to be Wayne and Hop and Hop REALLY has his moments.)

There’s also some stereotypical hegemonic working class male value that Billy, Eddie, Argyle and Jonathan hold that makes them either antagonist (either in the narrative or in the fandom) or isn’t a good trait to have. Billy is aggressive, all of them are addicts (which is also racist stereotyping in Argyles case), Jonathan and Billy are sexually deviant (never mind the distinction that Jonathan committed a sex crime and Billy was just groomed, the Duffers certainly don’t.)

It’s also important to note the distinct lack of working class male characters who aren’t white at this point, this show has zero understanding of intersectionality.

In some areas I’m almost glad the Duffers at least understand that working class men have a culture, because all of the working class women on the show have no real attempts to be assigned any working class female attributes. On the other hand, I already know it would just be fucking misogyny yet again.

Just like the shows blatant misogyny, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, ableism, abuse apologia and holocaust denialism, the Duffers show no real care about the discriminatory nature of the way they portray the working class. Or the classism that the wider fandom regularly espouses against working class people and culture.

If Billy, Eddie, Jonathan and Argyle had been from a show created by working class writers, I probably would have significantly less problems with the way their characters are handled. Both because the clunky, stereotypical characterisation would have been erased and also because it would have been portrayals of a real life working class experience. Abuse, addiction, racism and violence are all real problems in working class communities.

But the Duffers don’t give a shit about that. All they do is create an upper middle class view of working class values.

There’s obviously something deeper lurking under what is seemingly just a nostalgia bait sci fi show, something that speaks to the way the media industry as a whole reinforces these attitudes towards marginalised and lower class communities, but that’s a conversation that I don’t yet feel qualified enough to initiate. So, I’ll leave it at this for now.

The Duffer Brothers are absolute fucking wankers.

[desperate2change]

i know I don’t use this account at all except for likes so it’s empty lol but I really can’t stop thinking about how fucked up nathan Prescott’s situation is in life is strange. like am i crazy for kind of feeling that he totally got groomed right. maybe im just applying my own experiences too much but Jefferson’s entire vibe really doesn’t let him pretend to not be a predator. idk. how horrible.

TW: talks of neglect grooming drugging assault and gun violence

not having a father that cares for you and constantly berates you and then your teacher is like. Hey i like your art want to learn from me, a famous photographer. and hes like. Wow yeah thank you for validating me and making feel worth something. and Jefferson’s like haha. Yeah. It’s like I’m your dad now. I’m gonna take pictures of you semi unconscious keep you on drugs and manipulate you into bringing your classmates into your situation. also I fucking hate you btw. and Nathan’s like. I’m gonna shoot a girl in the bathroom

it makes it so much crazier being in the fandom because I feel like life is strange told a pretty well put together story about how negligence and lack of care for students and children led to this horrible person victimizing so many students. to the point where his own accomplice was another person he had victimized for years most likely at that point. he got away with this for years because of Arcadia Bay’s lack of care and internal societal struggles. like i thought it was a pretty straight forward way to show how one horrible person can cause so much damage if left uncheck.

but for some reason so much of the fandom interpretation focuses not enough on the fact that jefferson is a horrible person who literally caused this entire situation to happen and a lot more on the ethics of whether or not nathan should be forgiven whcih is not even the point of the story man. you can hold someone accountable AND acknowledge they’re a major victim in the scenario. Yknow children and teenagers get roped into helping their abusers a lot right. That’s the fucking point of the plot twist

[girl-revolution-utena]

Thinking about how parents usually say "don't get into a stranger's car" and how the implocation is that they are going to kidnap you, kill you or assault you (or everything). And Akio uses his car for abuse, either doing it there or driving the victim to the place where the abuse is going to happen. In some cases, even though he is a stranger, the victims know he exists and is an authority in the school. In others, he grooms them and gets them to trust him, so he makes sure that the warning no longer applies to him.

His power as an adult and how, with his car, he has more freedom than the kids. He can go wherever he wants. He uses the car as a private space where he doesn't need to respond for his actions. And if the kids want to go somewhere that is not inside Ohtori, they need him to take them. They have to get into his car to be able to grasp a little freedom.

This just makes me want to read more about youth liberation and how young people are a class in contradiction with adults.