#this is a problem within our culture that the Duffers have perpetuated with their writing

[fizzigigsimmer]

😡 Y’all need to stop before you hurt somebody with your garbage victim blamey nonsense. Your blind spot when it comes to sexual abuse and grooming when the proposed victim is a male is genuinely alarming.

There are no grey areas. There are not buts, no ands, and certainly no justifications. Karen Wheeler entertained sexual fantasies and engaged in an inappropriate flirtation with a teenager - full stop. The end. She memorized a teenagers schedule and showed up at their place of work in order to sexually entice said teenager for her own mental/emotional gratification, and then agreed to have a sexual encounter with that teen for further gratification. That's all there is to know and there is no qualifying data that releases her from responsibility from her own actions.

If your response to the Kareen Wheeler story line is not some version of WTF Duffers, please explain your gross mishandling and fetishy framing of this serious subject matter; and is instead some version of 'But Billy' or 'I'm just saying, Billy', then STOP. Review these cold hard facts:

Adults should not engage in inappropriate relationships with teenagers, and when they do, the adult is to blame and not the teenager.

An adult who forms an inappropriate relationship with a teenager is always taking advantage and it is always an abuse of power.

What a teenager wears or how they dress, speak etc. does not excuse an adult seeking an improper relationship with them.

A teenager giving their consent or offering sex to an adult does not relieve an adult of personal or moral responsibility to be the adult in the situation.

A teenager may act on inappropriate feelings, behave irresponsibly and erratically, and we should expect this. An 18-19 (which Billy is not, he's canonically 17-18 during this story line) is not fully developed and does not have the life experience of a middle aged adult, and it is blaming the victim to suggest "they knew what they were doing". Teenagers literally do not. No offense to teens.

A teenager is gonna think a lot of stupid shit and do a lot of stupid shit. The adult in the situation bears the responsibility to correct inappropriate behavior and make sure boundaries are set. When they do not because it tickles their genitalia and makes them feel special to have a child say and do inappropriate things with them, it is creepy and wrong.

A 17 year old is a child, and when a child flirts with an adult there is only one acceptable response.

An 18 year old is no more realistically an adult than a 17 year old, and counting down to the day a child turns 18 so that you can make your sexual fantasies a reality is predatory.

Arranging moments where you can show off your body and entice a teen into inappropriate feelings for you is also grooming and predatory.

Trauma manifests differently for everyone, and masking is learned in early childhood. Tears and wailing are not required for trauma to exist.

Just because a teenager does not act bothered by the flirtations and sexual advances of an adult doesn’t mean they aren’t in fact being bothered, or that they aren’t being traumatized by the event.

It is not a teenagers responsibility (or a moral requirement) to know that the things they are experiencing are creating trauma, or that their current behaviors are a result of previous trauma. They literally do not have enough life experience to be experts in recognizing and dealing with trauma.

It is an adults responsibility to recognize unhealthy situations, behaviors, etc. withdraw and set boundaries.

If the adults have decided that it is okay to sexually fantasize about a teenager and show up scantily clad to a teens place of work in the hopes of forming inappropriate relationships, and the culture cosigns this as just another Tuesday, then the teen cannot logically be the one at fault for their own skewed perceptions of sex and morality.

It is the responsibility of a sane adult to recognize when a teenager needs intervention and correction. Not a blowjob in a motel. Sorry Karen. Not sorry.