Pro-tip: you wouldn’t be getting upset about being called groomers if you weren’t supporting teaching/discussing/indoctrinating young children about adult sexual topics
Weaponized grooming rhetoric is taking a toll on LGBTQ community and child sex abuse survivors
Grooming, a term associated with adults who sexually abuse children, has become an attack word in today’s battle over anti-LGBTQ legislation and is spilling out into the broader culture wars.
The term, coined in the 1980s, describes a process used to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse and reduce the risk of being caught, according to RAINN, a national anti-sexual violence organization.
Now, however, some conservatives are using such terms as “grooming,” “groomer” and “pro-pedophile” against opponents in battles over everything from laws restricting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools to Supreme Court confirmations. Critics say the references are dangerous, diminishing the experience of sexual assault survivors and smearing the LGBTQ community, which has long faced a false stigma regarding inappropriate behavior with children.
“I think it does enormous harm,” said Michael Bronski, a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Harvard University and author of “A Queer History of the United States for Young People.” “This really speaks to the deep-seatedness of this notion of abusing children as a political tactic.”
And, as long as these people are going to support the notion of exposing young children to adult sexual topics they have no business knowing about they’ll be called groomers. They don’t seem particularly upset about hurting young children.
Use of terms such as grooming and pro-pedophile play into a persistent stereotype linking LGBTQ people to inappropriate behavior with children, “which is completely, patently false,” said R.G. Cravens, assistant professor of political science at California Polytechnic State University, who focuses on LGBTQ politics and policy.
Well, there wouldn’t be stereotypes if it wasn’t happening.
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1520152815972208640
It’s not just LGBT, but, unhinged straight leftists who are doing this.
He added that the use of weaponized language often arises in reaction to LGBTQ political, legal and social gains. As such, Cravens explained, right-wing groups have historically used loaded terms to discredit and delegitimize political opponents and LGBTQ people in particular and few topics draw as strong an emotional response as harm being done to children.
Oh, good, the Victim card has been played. A very good sign that the person is in the wrong. Leave the kids alone.
Read: Calling Groomers Groomers Is Upset The LGBT Community Or Something »