Are you Dutch? Do you have an idea what the sentiment over there is? The US is a lost cause at this point, but I was hoping other places would learn from our idiocy.

Yea, I think it’s extremely sad that women’s bodies are essentially used as a training ground for men’s understanding of consent, and therefore woman have to deal with the consequences of any misunderstandings the men may have. It’s also sad that a women’s inability to advocate for themself may mean a man legitimately doesn’t understand the harm he’s causing as he’s causing it. And vice versa of course.

One of the reasons I am so verbal about enthusiastic consent is because that requires both parties to understand what is needed of them. It’s not just about knowing how to recognize consent, but also how to provide consent. I appreciate the nuance you added to the conversation. Sometimes the internet can be hit or miss about these things.

This is probably not the place to share this, but to your point here’s a personal story about that:

I went on a date with a guy who was a friend of a friend and I’d known casually for a while. We were at his place and hanging out. He tries to do something I didn’t want and I didn’t want to ruin the mood so I casually move away. He tries again and I verbally very seriously say that I don’t want that. He tries again a bit later and I end up leaving. He legitimately has no idea what he did wrong. He calls and texts an apology. He’s a nice guy otherwise. He asks if we can chat about it because he’s confused and concerned. We do. He grew up very sheltered and literally didn’t understand that no means no. I know that sounds idiotic to anyone with a normal upbringing, but it was the case. We have an extended conversation about enthusiastic consent. He apologizes again and asks if I would feel comfortable going out again at any point. We do and he acted exactly as one would hope. We dated for years with no issues afterwards. I’m sure someone will probably be thinking “he was manipulating you” or “he was worried about his reputation”, but in reality he just never had someone talk to him about consent and bought into the “no means yes” bs that was popular in media when he was growing up.

If I didn’t know him as well as I did, or if I was someone else, it’s possible I would have been too concerned to speak up about it and he would go on never knowing that what he did was wrong. This sign would probably legitimately have helped him.

I think this is a part of why a lot of SA goes unreported. No one want to report their boyfriend because of what in a non sexual circumstance might be called a misunderstanding. If I say I don’t want dessert and my BF orders me dessert anyway, I can just not eat it. That’s not the case when it comes to sexual contact and people seem to struggle with that.

Yea, I was mostly joking. It’s also a bunch of children who are not well known for understanding the intricacies of social systems. They are also fictional, so there’s that. I do appreciate you adding that context, but I figured I’d explicitly state I was joking in case someone assumed I was actually blaming fake children for their own misfortune. I just thought it was funny because they’re not even taking revenge on people who would have wronged them. It’d be one thing to trick people who decide to ignore them into drowning, but they’re tricking people who decide to help. It’s like the opposite of revenge. It’s more like “if I can’t be saved no one can be”, which is admittedly a very childlike attitude.

Did none of them stop to think that killing the people that try to help trapped children might be contributing to the epidemic of people being unwilling to help trapped children?

No good deed, amirite?

“I think for me, you know, two of the wins might be immigration and maybe homeland security,” he said. “But a big loss for him is the economy, and inflation, and the cost of living, which has been a common theme here across Republicans and Democrats.”

• “independent voter”

Really wish they would stop pretending. Anyone who sees this administration’s approach to immigration as a “win” needs to be helped in a way I cannot articulate.

Not being happy about it doesn’t mean he did anything to at least lessen harm. He admits to engaging in “pranks” where they cut open all of the watermelons of someone who was on their way to sell them. That’s just stealing. He stole someone’s livelihood, which also happened to be food in a place actively being denied food.

I’m glad he didn’t do it giddily, but that probably makes no difference to the person who was driving. I’m glad he sees that he was a pawn, but there is no apparent understanding of the real harm he caused. He seems more focused on how it affected him and not how he affected others. I don’t see him talking about how bad the IDF is openly, and he’s vague posting about how he’s actually just misunderstood. If people watch the boys or not I don’t really care, but this guy is an asshole.