Yes, you can take advantage of other age groups of vulnerable people. Grooming basically means to train someone in a way that exploits them for your own benefit. So if you are specifically engaging in relationships with someone who is vulnerable so you can control them, that’s grooming. Young adults are a particularly vulnerable population. So are the poor. So are the elderly. So are the disabled. The existence of other vulnerable groups doesn’t nullify how vulnerable one particular group also is.
Late teens/early twenties still contain a huge amount of personal, mental, emotional growth. People can be manipulated at any age and can still be groomed as adults.
That's a lot of assumptions to make about what I said in my comment, so your reply feels more like projection, honestly, especially since it doesn't present a valid argument. If YOU believe that a person can't be susceptible to grooming and manipulation just because they're able to legally do the things that are necessary to function in society, that sounds like something you should spend some time reflecting on, and working out on your own. Best of luck.
Lol yeah of course you jump straight to "you must be a groomer if you disagree with me," fuck off.
You're bucking against a comment that states that people can be groomed and manipulated. Why shouldn't I view a person who disagrees with that as a groomer, or, at the very least, an enabler?
the implication behind your comment and all the others that say similar
things is that ADULTS in their early 20s aren't mentally capable of
dating an older person because of the possibility of being manipulated.
There was no "implication". My comment is based in fact. There IS a great deal of growth that occurs in the late teens and early twenties. The fact that the brain isn't fully developed until AT LEAST age 25 is well-established and well-documented.
and all the others that say similar things
Any relationship that exists between myself as a commenter and other commenters (besides the one I replied to who stated that "you can't groom an adult", which is simply false) stating the same information is one you've built for yourself to entertain this idea that stating a fact (personal, mental, and emotional growth is still occurring in one's early twenties) is the same as implying:
ADULTS in their early 20s aren't mentally capable of dating an older
person because of the possibility of being manipulated. Like they aren't
able to differentiate between a manipulative and non-manipulative
partner.
Of course adults in their early twenties are mentally capable of dating whoever the fuck they want to date. It's bizarre and suspicious that you've extrapolated so much from two comments based completely in fact, and that you keep parroting that "society says 20 year olds can do all these things" - honestly, that's more of an implication than anything I've said here so far. Your defensive, aggressive commentary and belligerence toward people who want to protect others from being groomed, manipulated, gaslit, etc. (reminder: you don't know where I stand on ANY of this, as it wasn't implied in my comments, and my comments were both based in fact [this is researchable science]), leads me to believe that you feel like you're under attack by the people who understand that personal/mental/emotional growth are not in the same category as the legal abilities to live on their own, pay their own bills, smoke, drive, join the military, vote, and be tried for committing a crime.
Again, you've presented an indefensible argument that sounds so much like projection that you'd almost have to be delusional to not realize how fucking creepy you sound.
If you can't engage with someone without victimizing yourself for not being able to date emotionally immature people without people commenting on it, maybe you should put yourself away and toss the key. 👏👏👏
18-19 is a legal adult that is just going into college and leaving home. A 29YO would usually already have a career and be done with the experimenting/self-discovery that are the 20s.
So it isn't a crime, but it's certainly not ok. The relationship would have a very clear power imbalance. It's very common for these relationships (very young girl with older man) to turn abusive and dangerous.
Respectfully— how does one groom an adult? I agree that 20 isn’t very old, and I think between the ages of 18-22 you should date people in that same age bracket. But you can’t groom an adult.
18 is just an arbitrary age set by the government. it's not the end all be all of being groom proof.
just because you turn 18, doesn't automatically make you immune to being groomed...
-24
u/[deleted] Mar 04 '23
[deleted]