TW: mentions of grooming and cse
Okay maybe this is a really hot take but sometimes I genuinely feel like the anti community can be … unhealthy? I hear a lot of people say that they’re paranoid about interacting with anyone even slightly younger than them and I just don’t think it should be normalised.
Like yeah of course you need to be mindful about differences in maturity and things like that. As an 18 year old there are many things you can tell your friends who are your age but you should never EVER tell a 14 year old, right? This makes sense. But when it comes to the point when you’re genuinely horrified about just …talking to anyone younger than you because you think it’s a gateway drug to you becoming a groomer or whatever, I think you’ve crossed the line between healthy awareness and obsessive paranoia.
You should be mindful when interacting with children and teenagers because they are impressionable and what you say and do really really matters. You should not be AFRAID of interacting with children and teenagers, you should not view yourself as a predator for simply being in their general proximity.
POCD affects my life. When I was 18, I genuinely thought I was a pedophile and I was going to jail because I found a 17 year old attractive. I’m 20 now and I physically cannot be attracted to anyone more than a year younger than me but I still have such a huge sense of dread when I interact with a child. I’ve been groomed by a 40 year old man when I was 19, I’ve been assaulted as a teenager and I would NEVER wish that upon anyone else. But I still can’t help but feel this way.
The point is I really don’t think it’s healthy for so many people to irrationally feel afraid of hurting kids. Like guys I hate to break it to you but please exercise some kind of restraint and common sense. I love the anti community and I love that people are getting a lot more aware about the horrible effects that fiction can have on real children. My ex was groomed by the proship community and I know they’re not the only one, you’re doing good work you really are.
But when it’s to the point where you guys are afraid of being around children, where you think an 18 year old liking a 17 year old is legitimately a pedophilic age gap, maybe this is getting unhealthy for YOU. Guys have you considered maybe you have undiagnosed OCD 😭😭 ok bye no one is gonna read this anyway
