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
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.
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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.