Yakko and ArabMogus’s shared temp

Take your own advice

I say this all the time. I think the same thing when someone says they were groomed online.

grooming is less applicable because it's harder to recognize

I can understand having this view for cyber bullying but people who say this stuff about being groomed clearly don’t know how it goes. It isn’t as simple as “oh this dude randomly sent me his caught just block him” most groomers build up a relationship so that not answering to their requests would make you feel like you’re doing something wrong in return. This combined with blackmail too.

You do make a lot of good points which are all completely true, but I still think it could a lot of times be prevented by saying "No" and not allowing yourself to be manipulated.

I do not hate people who were groomed online, just putting that out there, but there are ways to prevent it from happening instead of letting your emotions control you.

The thing is, the manipulation very often starts with the false idea of safety.

Groomers will put up a friendly face for the most part, letting people become friendly and trust them.

Then, when people let their guard down, the actions of grooming occur. At this point, the victim believes they are equals as the relationship has gone thus far, but the groomer was just faking that to drop the act. To them, all their victims are expendable and they never have emotions or sympathy to them.

Saying no isn’t an option to the victim. They believe this is the person that they could spend their whole life with, with true love. They think that what they’re being told to do is just this person’s way of affection. This is why expositions happen months after the inciting incident. Because they don’t realize that anything wrong has occurred.

Now, I can see your point. There are some cases where the victim is just a really f**king horny kid who knows what they’re getting into. But that isn’t an excuse. They’re still traumatized by these events. And if I was groomed, the last thing I’d want is people just ignoring the situation because it was something I could have avoided if I wasn’t being manipulated. You’re allowed to feel that way, and no doubt there is truth to that, but keep those feelings to yourself when you’re talking straight to a person traumatized by these sorts of things.

Agreed.