I AM NOT A THREAT.
- I AM NOT a predator
- I AM NOT a murderer
- I AM NOT DANGEROUS.
- I AM living somewhere that has nobody with the same humor, interests, intelligence, or tastes as I do.
- I AM talking to your son or daughter because THEY DO.
- I AMwishing you wouldn’t judge me when you don’t know me.
This is for Jay, first and foremost. She’s 17 years old and received a pair of mouse earrings for Christmas from one of her online friends. (She’s in the Charles/Erik fandom and they signified Charles, who gets represented as a mouse in a lot of fandom references)
Her parents flipped out, ignored the fact that I was willing to have a conversation with them on the phone in order to keep RPing with her via text and email, and completely banned her from the internet. That was months ago, and she still can’t come back. They’ve completely disregarded her assurances that we are RP partners, friends who like the same fandom, and assume that all of us are sexual predators who just want to find where she lives and kidnap her and do unspeakable things to her.
I’m getting sick of this stereotype, I hate that parents assume everyone on the internet is a sexual predator, and their kid is the #1 victim. I feel like this is insulting to the child AND their friends, because you assume that your kid is susceptible and stupid and can’t tell the difference between who is and isn’t a creep.
I’m not saying that there aren’t kids like that, but maybe you should stop assuming your kid is one of them.
We come to the internet to find friends, we come here to find people who like to read and write and draw and make funny faces and horrible photoshop manipulations. We don’t come here to get off, to stalk children or bully anyone.
So please signal boost this, because I want Jay’s parents to realize that there is no reasonfor them to punish their daughter. Not when all she’s done was find friends who like what she likes, and encourage her to write and share her talent with the rest of us.
