A thing I like about Sesame Street is that adults are positively and proactively involved in the lives even of kids they're not related to. This is cool and should be normal--being good to kids and helping them grow up should be a whole society's responsibility.
IRL, so many people would treat it as sus if a dude like Alan helped host a campout for a group of kids and adults; but actually it's lovely and maybe we should normalize adults being kind to and engaged with kids.
We should teach both kids and adults what constitute healthy interactions in this context and what to look out for; but the broad concept of a supportive relationship between a child and an unrelated adult should not in and of itself be taboo.
I suspect the nuclearizing of child rearing (possibly as a result or consequence of the Stranger Danger moral panic of the 80s) has created generations who don’t know what healthy vs unhealthy interactions actually look like so everything feels like it could be weird.
I think it's very convenient that generations of girls are raised to be afraid of stranger (which, fine better safe than sorry) when the real danger to data is men known to them mostly in positions of power
Yeah it’s a whole genre at this point. And don’t get me wrong, creeps exist for sure! But there a lot of ways the simple act of looking can be misunderstood.
Creeps really do exist. I've been followed around the gym before. I've been leered at, had my butt slapped, etc... a glance isn't creepy. Even watching someone lift isn't always creepy.
I’m an (undiagnosed but cmon) autistic artist and sometimes I get hyper focused on how, for example, fabric bunches around a joint
I never want to make anyone uncomfortable, I hate myself when I do. Point is, intent should matter!
Also I’m really sorry you had those experiences!
