I think the extent to which people can open up more easily to an AI than to a human says something about culture and vulnerability, and how shitty it can be on creating an environment that feels safe to be vulnerable in, or even using language that is exploratory rather than judgmental.

100%. Really cooking with this take.

I overreact about bad takes about CSA prevention a lot because I worked at a CAC for many years. I wouldn’t say they worded their post poorly. I’d say they worded it problematically. It gives the impression that simply talking to kids about bodily autonomy is a solution to CSA. There’s so much more to it than that.

That’s certainly uh…one way of putting of it. I take issue with a lot of what this poster is saying. I’m sorry, they seem to have some fundamental misunderstanding of child advocacy and consent in general.

unless you want to to teach small kids about a laundry list of sex acts, they’re not going to even recognize many acts of CSA as sexual in nature.

This seems self-contradictory. Abusers employ many behaviors that are not sexual in nature in order facilitate their abuse. Things like gift giving or building trust with families/the community. The poster seems to imply that children wouldn’t be able to recognize these behaviors without a list of sex acts because these behaviors are and aren’t sexual in natural at the same time? I’m not understanding what they’re trying to even say really. I think you’re right that it’s pretty gross framing.

instead, we need to have children who are raised with an expectation of bodily autonomy and who feel comfortable complaining when they’re made or asked to do things they don’t feel comfortable with.

Agreed. Although I’d go further and say that children need to understand everyone has a right to bodily autonomy, not just that we should expect it.

we need children to have the expectation that those complaints will be taken seriously and that they’ll receive backup to make sure situations like that don’t continue.

Ok, I take a little umbrage with this. I’m not saying you should tell kids that aren’t going to believe them. You should never tell a survivor of CSA that. It makes it seem that their experiences would be perceived as unbelievable to safe adults. BUT you SHOULD NOT be telling kids that their “complaints” will be taken seriously. What a weird and dismissive way of framing the disclosure process. You encourage kids to keep disclosing until they get the help they need. Disclosure is a process. It often involves denial and recanting and multiple attempts. Disclosure is something a victim gives, and it takes a ton of fucking courage.

if their desires for bodily autonomy are consistently ignored, how can we expect them to speak out when something confusing and uncomfortable happens with their parent, cousin, or babysitter?

Wow, this is getting pretty close to victim blaming at this point. If someone continues to be abused, it’s not their fault for not recognizing it or not feeling comfortable enough to disclose their abuse. Again, this is why in the world of child advocacy you encourage kids to find safe adults to talk to. You tell them they aren’t doing anything wrong by getting the help they need.

we’ve already taught them that what they feel comfortable with doesn’t matter

I think this poster thinks that by simply teaching kids about bodily autonomy and telling them they should expect to get help will somehow solve CSA. That framing ignores a litany of symptoms of CSA. I think the poster doesn’t understand what abuse can do to someone, how difficult it makes trusting others or one’s own memory or emotions. I get the poster wants a better world, but do some reading about child sexual abuse prevention.

That sounds fun. It’s been awhile since art history for me but I looked up those two artists. I always think it’s interesting that the Italian renaissance happened so much sooner than anywhere else in Europe. If I could go back to school I think it’d like to take a class focused on the Italian renaissance.

I’m sure you’ll do great. What’s it about? A certain movement or artist? If you wanna talk it out, I’m your guy.

Now you’re gettin’ it 😎

I don’t really have any advice, but I wanted to commiserate with you. And to send you that emoji of those two cute yellow cats hugging. But I still don’t know how emojis work. Just image I sent that emoji instead. Oh, and imagine I gave you really good advice or said something that made you feel better and gave you lots of money.

For real though, one of thing only things that has really helped me with social anxiety has been, unfortunately, getting older. The older I get the more other things have mattered to me than being liked by my peers. Still hard though, especially in groups or when I need to get someone’s attention. Sometimes not caring helps. Sometimes it’s isolating.

Cats hugging emoji again.

Element kind. Yip yip!

Just tested both the kids for COVID/FLU A&B. Both came up negative thankfully, but we’ll probably test again tomorrow if they still have fevers. We’re gonna watch Avatar the rest of the afternoon.

Anime vs Cartoon

It appears you have chosen violence.