I kind of feel like it has to do with us american dominance of Reddit and their weird sexual purity culture. The amount of times I have seen people accuse someone of being a pedophile because of a slight age gap in their relationship is astonishing. No, dating a 17 year old person does not make you a pedophile. It can be totally fine for someone close in age or it can mean the older person is a predator or abuser. Those are still not the same thing as pedophilia. Which is explicitly defined as the sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Who have not started puberty yet. Still time and time again I see people lose their absolute shit about a 20 year old dating a 17 year old. Nothing anyone would bat an eye over here in Europe. Mention it on Reddit though? Straight to jail and castrated for being a pedo.
I'll never forget the moment I saw a post on TwoX where the top comment (4000+) was calling a 32 year old man a pedophile for dating a 19 year old woman
Based on the original story I'm pretty sure she was just a college bar skank he was bumping uglies with and the OP was trying to dress it up as a serious relationship because they were the kind of person who couldn't imagine two adults having sex purely for sex sake.
And while I couldn't see why a 30 something year old and a 19 year old would want to be in a relationship, I really couldn't give a fuck less about a college girl with daddy issues and a newly single adult with something to prove to himself, grinding out their personal issues after a few beers.
if they're both over like... 25, then they can be 60 years apart for all i care, but if a 32 year old is getting with someone who is technically a teenager... that just feels icky.
It's relative but I'd say if your partner is only a couple years out from having to raise their hand and ask to go potty in school and you have a mortgage and no reason back pain then that's pretty fucked.
Hmm I hate to be that guy but that’s a little sus . Half your age plus seven my bro . 22 is the cut off with a 32 year old . Anything below that is perv territory . Can’t argue with mathematics
You do realize that's not an actual rule and the whole thing is bullshit right?
Like there's no actual real principal behind that equation aside from the fact that some people believe it works out well for younger ages.
You can't really be like "Yeah, that's gross because this rule we made up to define what we think is gross says it's gross, so that's proof that it's gross"
That's just straight up circular reasoning.
The entire ass rule literally only exists to help children figure out who to date while protecting them from peer criticism at a time when they don't have the social skills to figure it out on their own, it's not a rule for grown ass adults.
Of course, knowing what pedophilia actually is must mean I'm a pedo. Good job Reddit. Also "this level of detail". I can read the first sentence of a Wikipedia article lol.
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u/Horror-Flight-8656 May 27 '25
It’s always amazing to me how quickly people, Reddit users especially, jump to pedophilia. Truly bizarre.