re: the whole adults in fandom need to “protect” kids debate
people who say “you are an adult so you have to make sure kids in fandom are safe” always use this nebulous “kid” or “minor” which essentially seems to be a blanket statement for anyone under the age of 18, regardless of how old the kid in question is. which drives me crazy because if we want to talk about “protecting” a kid we are talking about completely different things depending on how old the kid in question is!
you see a 7 years old wandering alone and looking confused? someone better go check on that kid because they’re likely lost, where the hell did the parents go and why aren’t they checking on them. a 12 years old doing the same? someone might get concerned, but overall most people will assume the kid can figure out where they are unless they look really distressed. a 16 years old? fuck man, they’re old enough to go around alone, if they need help they can ask, no one will notice them unless it’s like 10pm in a bad neighborhood and the kid might legitimately be at risk of getting kidnapped
you’re watching something on tv with a 7 years old and an unexpected sex scene comes up? cover your eyes, no that is a grown up thing and we are not talking about that, also we are changing channel. with a 12 years old? i mean, still not exactly age appropriate, but generally speaking it’s thought a 12 years old has a vague idea of what sex is and you’ll only want to do something if it gets like super explicit or the kid seems extremely uncomfortable. with a 16 years old? lmao the movies my fucking teachers put on in high school when we were around that age had the occasional raunchy scene thrown in, we had all had our sex ed classes and some kids had already gotten the hands on experience with their gf/bf, we could deal
so, applying this logic on fandom. now, if i was told a 7 years old happened to click on something with adult themes? yeah, i would be concerned, and most importantly i would be furious at the kind of parents who decide it’s a smart idea to let a small child unsupervised on something as horrendously dangerous as the internet. a 12 years old? well kid, sorry about that, but you should also know by now what the warnings mean, i can point you in the direction of something the direction of some educational resources if you need but you also are old enough to start thinking about your safety by yourself. a 16 years old? boo-fucking-whoo kiddo, if you still don’t know how to use warnings then i don’t know what to tell you
if we, as adults, are hanging out on sites such as tumblr, ao3 and so on, all of which are 13+, then we are going to act like the kids who might run across our work act like someone who is 13 or older. content warnings? sure thing, and people who don’t put them properly are also potentially harming adults who don’t want to see that content. offer advice? it will depend on the person, but most of us will not mind the occasional question. look out for real, actual predators if we see a sketchy situation in which a less experienced kid may not realize they’re in danger? absolutely. but acting as if we’re supposed to mother anyone when all the minors involved are of on age where everyone, in or outside of fandom, will consider them capable of recognizing obvious danger, making small decisions, and be aware that the world isn’t all rainbows and unicorns? kid, what are you, 7
THANK YOU!!!
