I’m not talking about queer people getting called groomers. I know why that’s happening. I’m referring more to a more general fear of pedophilia instead of just repackaged homophobia.

I feel like I’m hearing about it like every other week. For instance, parent bloggers noticing that their engagement skyrockets when they post their kids eating hotdogs or in swimwear. Another example is an increasing trend of people on Pinterest creating walls and albums labelled “hot kids.”

I know that elite freaks are all pedos, but is pedophilia an actually growing problem among regular people? It seems to me like when suburbanites freak out about any other thing like BLM or immigrants marching through and razing their communities. Or the crime freakout in the 70s/80s.

Am I being naive and we actually need to be on high alert?

  • AHopeOnceMore [he/him]@hexbear.netB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    2 years ago

    There is also a lot of horny tiktok/youtube/twitch content clearly targeted at pedos. Dressing up as kids, acting childlike. There’s only one audience for that.

  • berrytopylus [she/her,they/them]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    growing problem

    I don’t think so. I think there’s always been a larger undercurrent of pedophilia than people realized or accepted. In many cases, it’s basically “mainstream” like how a lot of female grooming (removing body hair, getting rid of wrinkles, etc) is about appearing younger and childlike.

    Some of the issue is also that teens are just a bit more sexual than we want to believe too. There’s a reason why “lying on the age verification of a porn site” is so common, those 15 year olds want to look at boobs just like any adult does. There’s a reason why most sane societies have things like Romeo and Juliet laws and allow teens to get with other teens.

    Teenagers are horny as shit and we need to stop pretending otherwise. The issue with all this stuff lies with predatory adults who come in and try to exploit them in their naivety.

  • Goblinmancer [any]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    All i have to say its weird that even with this moral panic child marriage is still legal in parts of US like Wyoming.

    Also when the victims are teens especially boys it seems to be more accepted in general like :macron: who was groomed by his teacher.

  • culpritus [any]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Catch_a_Predator

    this might have a bit to do with it - I haven’t watched regular TV since like 2002, but I recall this show was a big deal culturally (never watched it)

    it certainly had it’s flaws and conflicts of interest, but the reason it was canceled is pretty wild (CW: suicide)

    spoiler

    In November 2006, Perverted-Justice announced that another To Catch a Predator sting had been conducted with law enforcement in Murphy, Texas. There were 25 men who arrived at the location on Mandeville Drive over four days, with law enforcement investigating additional suspects. The predators included a former church music director and a former police officer in his 60s. These additional suspects, who conducted chats but did not arrive at the undercover house, included Kaufman County assistant district attorney Louis Conradt, who shot and killed himself on November 5, 2006, at his home when police attempted to serve him with a search warrant, after he had been caught talking to and exchanging pictures with a Perverted-Justice volunteer posing as a 13-year-old boy. After Conradt failed to appear at a prearranged meeting, NBC and local police tracked him to his home. He committed suicide as police and an NBC camera crew entered his home, capturing the scene when the fatal shot was fired. His estate, managed by his sister Patricia Conradt, filed suit against Dateline for US$105 million. The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

    the abrupt ending of the show, along with the fact that the honey-pot operation was ensnaring cops and DAs - it shows that there are likely many pedos in positions of power and ‘respect’, but then it got shutdown - which sure could have fueled many conspiracy spirals for the ‘think of the children’ crowd

    didn’t see any mentions in the thread so thought it was worth adding

    edit: oh ya and all the catholic priest stuff has been percolating for decades - there was certainly a peak of those kinds of stories in the news but I can’t say when that was really

    • Autisticky [they/them]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      I learned from an FBI agent friend-of-friend that pedos very commonly kill themselves within days after a raid occurs, even before any trial is started. It might be why most outed pedos are completely remorseless, as the self-aware ones took care of themselves.

    • RedQuestionAsker2 [he/him, she/her]@hexbear.netOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 years ago

      I’m being hyperbolic.

      However, people in power have greater leverage to exploit children via their institutions, from Epstein to the Catholic church. It’s really no wonder we associate the two because this is the kind of shit we hear about most.