Hello all, It's been a while since I posted anything in SD, but I recently came across a post on Reddit that I believe would be well received and well discussed here in a community like Fakku. Some context: This was posted in a thread where OP asked:
"DAE find r/jailbait to be creepy as fuck? It's a subreddit for suggestive photos of children under 18"
The response was by a user named "relevant_rule34", and is one of the most heartfelt and knowledgeable things I have ever seen on the topic of sexual fetishes.
Here is the response:
You know, I always enjoy reading through discussion threads like this on Reddit, particularly on a vocal community like 2X. In fact, I was actually pleasantly surprised to see the response to this thread. It is clear from the distribution of votes here that 2Xers support the basic ideals of freedom of speech and more importantly, the freedom of sexual expression.
I am sorry OP, but your submission title was very poorly worded; and it seems to me from your responses that you created this post not to facilitate a valid discussion of r/jailbait, but to (pardon the verbage) circlejerk your opinion. There is no value to attacking the sexual identity of someone, and even less merit to doing so over the internet. You don't need to tell the subscribers of r/jailbait you find them creepy. Look through the thousands of throwaway usernames on there and you'll realize that most are already well aware of that. Some of them may in fact despise themselves for being turned on by pictures of pubescent girls, and find that self-hatred pouring out into their every day lives. These people don't need our judgement, they need our acceptance and understanding.
If I asked you if you believed homosexuality was a choice, you would probably answer 'No'. Why then, would the berating of any other shade of sexuality be acceptable to you? People don't choose what turns them on, yet they are often forced to justify to others and even themselves as to why they feel the way they do. If any of you reading this has never ever had a secret desire or fetish you've felt embarrassed about at one point, then I envy you. Nay, I pity you. Why? Because you are missing out on one of the fundamental experiences of being human, and you are going to find it very hard to empathize with your partner and love them wholeheartedly despite their darkest secrets.
I have seen quite a bit of porn, OP. I have seen the images that lurk in the hearts of men and women. I have talked with strangers about things they have never even told their wives or boyfriends. And yet the most heartbreaking thing time after time is to see the dissonance that exists between the person they really are and who they have to pretend to be. Pedophiles; they are many more than you know and a good majority would never lift a finger to hurt a child. Some even choosing to undertake extreme measures to prevent doing so. Zoophiles; some of whom have experienced deeper and more meaningful relationships with animals than the rest of us may ever experience in our lifetime, yet they may never be happy in society the way that most of us can easily be. Self-mutilators; some of whom can't reach any form of sexual gratification without placing their lives or health in extreme danger. Is it fair that some of us get to masturbate to pictures of boobs and roll over to sleep, while others stay up all night, ostracized by implications and improbability of their sexuality?
The world can be a large and uncaring place. If a small community board somewhere on the internet allows people to come together and share with others like them in an open and judgement free environment, then I say let them. They have it hard enough as it is.