Artemis7h ago

So apparently today the thing that has me screaming is living in a society built on hurting kids.

Not just child sexual abuse.

Every kind of harm & exploitation.

Why am I not having kids? Well, one reason is that I feel like there are plenty of kids in the world *already* for me to worry about, & there will always be more.

Show threadArtemis7h ago

Maybe this is part of what upsets the right wing folks when childless people are concerned about the welfare of kids.

You're not supposed to worry about "other people's kids" (otherwise known as human beings with their own rights).

At BEST you're only supposed to worry about your kids, but even then, you're supposed to worry about competing for things, not their fucking well-being as individuals.

You're not supposed to look at a child & see a person. You're supposed to see *property*.

Show threadArtemis7h ago

A childless adult concerned about the rights & needs of children has no "skin in the game" in their minds. If you *aren't* a child, & you don't have children of your own, then how does it affect you if children are suffering?

It does actually affect me in a number of ways, but even if it didn't, what the fuck? Is the question they are asking "why do you care about human beings?" or is it "why do you think children are human beings?"

Trick question! It's both.

Show threadArtemis7h ago

But goddamn. Hurting kids is just so fucking NORMAL in our world, & it has to stop.

We don't need age verification online (a surveillance ploy). We need to stop normalizing the abuse & exploitation of children in every area of life & culture.

Keeping a kid off the Internet doesn't fucking protect them from the predatory adults around them. In fact, it may make them more vulnerable than ever.

Show threadsecretsloth
@artemis I've spent a lot of time being emotional support for kids who didn't have a "safe adult" in real life. Usually they met my kid first and my kid brought them to me, like, here, my mom is your mom now. And that connection was important to a lot of those young people, even if it was only for a short time. Teachers are no longer able to provide that like they used to be, nor are neighbors. The whole "parents' rights" bs has seen to that. Young people now have so few options.
9:06pmWeb
Show threadsecretsloth7h ago
@artemis making that pool even smaller does not help them. I am really worried for them. Not all parents are good parents, not all parents are stable, and even then, not all kids are able to trust their parents with certain things, or want to worry their parents, for a number of reasons. It's not right for young people to be so unsupported. 😔 the majority of adults are not creeps. Kids need role models and people they can trust if something goes wrong. I just. Am so sorry.
Show threadMorgan ⚧️6h ago
@secretsloth @artemis yes on all of this. Up to 2 adults that a kid can kinda sorta trust are not enough, even if those 2 adults trustworthy--for example, I've seen external child abusers use scripts to avoid parental intervention, and I imagine it's easier to convince a kid not to tell the one or two people in charge of disciplining the kid than to convince them not to talk to anyone about it
Show threadsecretsloth5h ago
@raphaelmorgan @artemis yep. Exactly. And sometimes kids need to bounce ideas off of someone who is just *not a parent,* for whatever reason, not for dodgy reasons, sometimes it's just embarrassing or they have a problem with a friend whose parents are best friends with their parents or they aren't sure how to approach their parents about something and they need help with adult to adult language. Or, as you say, an adult can help them recognize abuse or unhealthy relationships.
Show threadArtemis7h ago

@secretsloth
💜

It's so beautiful when you can give someone the kindness & support that is lacking in their lives. And being an adult that kids *genuinely* see as safe is no small feat when they aren't accustomed to feeling safe.

Show threadsecretsloth7h ago
@artemis it's something I didn't have, so I know the value of it. But with the age verification and all, I'm seriously worried that it will be harder for them to reach me at all. Now that my kid is grown, I usually meet them by chance, and that'd be much less likely because many would be gated off, but also, as you say, surveillance. 😒 folks nowadays assume bad things if an adult is spending time with young people, especially queer young folks. I feel like that's part of the point.