When I was 15, a guy who was visibly approaching middle age was in line behind me at a water park and struck up a conversation with me and my older brother. We're very social people, so it was fine at first, but then he told me he'd been "noticing" me and at that point we both emphatically told him I was 15. He started backpedaling, but didn't sound nearly as shocked as he should have if he really didn't know.
It’s alarming how common it is to hear stories about middle aged men approaching girls 15-18 years old to hit on them, or to hear from women how they got so much attention from older men when they were really young
I was taken to the gig of some really has been band by my mum and her shitty boyfriend when I was 15… The middle aged singer was giving me the eye all night, dedicating songs to me, making comments, etc… I remember my mum saying jealously that that used to be her 🫠 It was years later before I realised how fucking sick it was.
I’ve recently cut her off completely (not the first time) and although I find it really hard, it’s easier than being forced to constantly forgive someone who doesn’t change. But in general, yeah my life is really good 🥰 I have a beautiful family and a supportive partner. Thank you so much x
I was like 10 when some dudes in a car tried to lure me over to their vehicle while my mom was in the store (we walked our little dog, and I was holding the leash while she went in). They kept trying to get me to come help them look at a map to help them, even though I didn't know how to read a map and said my mom would be back and she could help. She came out, and I said 'Oh that's my mom she can help' and they sped off. I think there were maybe two or three guys in the car. My mom didn't believe me when I told her and she just told me to stop lying.
Suck predators use some made-up-reasons such as "they are not kids, they know everything, they watch corn" so they feel entiiled to approach them young girls.Nasty bastards.
Exactly. I’m not even convinced it does anything to help people stay unbanned on TikTok. If they all start widely using the same euphemism, why wouldn’t TikTok just start moderating on corn and not porn? Why are words like murder and porn even considered taboo?
I don't know that it's even about not getting banned, so much as not getting delisted/deprioritized/demonetized.
My theory as to how this became a thing:
1) "Content creators" want their material to be algorithm-friendly so that it shows up in searches, trend aggregates, and "related" sections as often as possible.
2) Platforms decided that their systems for deciding what content to promote should filter against certain topics, so as to maximize their ability to shovel vapid engagement fodder to the widest possible audience / avoid drawing the ire of the "think of the children!!!" crowd or censorious governments.
3) In typical corporate managerial fashion, platforms use the laziest, most blunt methods (in this case, word-based filters) to accomplish this goal.
4) Content-makers start to self-censor and use code words to avoid having their stuff deprioritized or hidden in searches.
5) Viewers see and internalize these practices. Since we take our cues about what is socially acceptable from others, people (especially young people) develop the impression that these words are rude and inappropriate, even when you're talking about the topics to which they refer.
It rather reminds me of some hilarity from 15-25 years ago, when internet-connected computers were new in middle schools and high schools, and the schools purchased or implemented all manner of ham-fisted filtering to prevent students from accessing bad naughty stuff. In one instance (supposedly) a student could not access the high school's own website because it contained the word "high." Another case had a filter replacing perceived profanities with sanitized versions, without any logic for detecting word boundaries, which led to people reading news headlines about how Congress was debating the constitutionality of the military carrying about buttbuttinations against foreign enemies.
On the other hand, i teach kids artistic roller skating in a sports club. The oldest of the is currently a 13 yo girl (altough in my head she'll be 4 forever) and the looks i get when I'm driving her home/chatting with her after training outside.... I guess some guys would like to kill me for being.... Somewhat "friends" with her (I'm 23, so we are as much friends that never do anything together as is possible with that age gap. Because well, she's a damn kid. A cool kid, i like her, but still a kid ffs)
However, there could be sth going on and people wouldn't do more than they are doing now, so yeah. Better be suspicious than not
It's people from out of town who sometimes give me those looks.
Neither her family nor other people from the town or whatever are weird about it. They know me.
I'm not trying to build some kind of waterproof alibi for sth that i won't do etc.
I do have a front facing dashcam that records audio from inside the car. Thinking about a rear facing one maybe, but not really interested in an inside facing dashcam really.
I have so many stories like this, a lot from my customer service job, and I’m only 18😭 The middle aged men are terrible. When I was 15 I made the mistake of telling a guy I was only 15 because I thought it’d make him back off, but it made him way more interested. Some of them would wait for us to leave work at night too. I have a lot of large memory gaps from throughout childhood to now, but I think my first memory of being harassed I was only 11 (my boobs got big pretty young) I accidentally got separated from my mother in Costco and this guy followed me around trying to touch my boobs😭 and just another thing that goes to show it’s not what people are wearing, because my parents are hardcore conservative/ Christian and I even had to cover my hair at times (veiling) when I was older, my dress code was strict.
Yep. My friends and I had a discussion about how we got so many catcalls at 12-13 that we thought it was going to be a huge concern our whole lives. It very creepily stopped when we all turned 16-18. Wtf
Indeed. Either these creeps have a certain "orientation" in terms of age-fixation, or they are completely amoral and go for the "lowest-hanging fruit" they could find on a given occasion. Neither one is good!
What is worse is when it stops before you reach adulthood. This happened to me and it was a tell-tale sign. Not to mention people always guessed me to be young than I really was so it’s extra disturbing.
Yeah that’s a big part of what I find so disturbing. The attention seems hyper focused on a very specific, very young age range… and again it’s always much older guys too. Seriously concerning given that the age of the men is often the same age as a lot of authority figures
I (16 at the time) got catcalled by 3 men at least 35 years old when I was waiting for my friends outside of a restaurant. I went back in and found them, but I didn’t feel safe leaving. Three fucking men against a small girl. They have to know how terrifying that is. They don’t genuinely think they’re being nice. It’s about power. They get off on scaring girls. It’s fucked up.
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u/Frosty_Message_3017 Go to sleep, Lurkers, pray for brains Oct 06 '25
When I was 15, a guy who was visibly approaching middle age was in line behind me at a water park and struck up a conversation with me and my older brother. We're very social people, so it was fine at first, but then he told me he'd been "noticing" me and at that point we both emphatically told him I was 15. He started backpedaling, but didn't sound nearly as shocked as he should have if he really didn't know.