knowyourmeme

I’m just…wow. I can’t even with the way we’re going, these days. One day, I’ll look at the news, and it’s like “Yay! We decided denying same sex couples marriage equality is against the Constitution! The Supreme Court finally did it right!” (which is really, really awesome) and the next it’s, “Boy, 13, Charged With Assault for Allegedly Kissing Girl, 14, Against Her Will.”

Burn it down. BURN IT ALL DOWN.

Okay, that reaction might be slightly tinged with PMDD-induced rage. Sorry. Let’s wait on burning it all down until I’ve mellowed.

It’s not the first time we’ve gone completely overboard with our attempts to ‘protect the children’. In 2013, a 6yo boy was suspended from school and had ‘sexual harassment’ placed on his permanent school record because he kissed a girl in his class on the hand (due to negative backlash, the school quietly removed the sexual harassment charge later that month).

Teenagers are regularly arrested for creating and distributing child pornography for taking nude photos of themselves and/or sending them to their partners or friends. One 17yo was recently arrested for this and is being tried as an adult.

And I’ve just gotta ask…how far is too far? At what point do we realize that we’re cutting off our whole fucking forearm just to get to our thumb? When do we stop destroying our children to protect them?

There’s an article on Slate that actually says the arrest is justified. That maybe arrests like these will get it through to parents how important it is to have conversations about consent with your children.

Are you fucking kidding me? So we’re going to ruin the lives of our future because their parents are slacking to make a point? And we really think this is the way to go?

Explain to me how this will help the situation, because from where I sit, it’s only going to make things worse. We’re going to have a whole generation of kids labeled juvenile delinquents–which will ruin their quality of life potential and drag our society even further down the rabbit hole of destruction–to make a point to their parents, some of whom aren’t even going to have anymore children. It won’t do the kids any good. The only lesson they’re going to learn is the system is failing and completely against them.

That 13-year-old made a stupid kid mistake because he’s a kid, and kids are stupid (you were a stupid kid, once, too). There was no malicious intent. It was kids having fun on the playground (or where ever the fuck they were). He didn’t force her to maintain the kiss. When she pushed him away, he left her alone.

The school chose to react as if he tried to burn the whole thing down. The police upheld the school’s ridiculous reaction. And now, he’s got a pretty large blemish on his record that will follow him for the rest of his life. All because he made a stupid kid mistake.

“But he didn’t get permission.”

You’re right. He didn’t. He was goofing around with friends, and he didn’t understand that what he did could potentially be harmful. He certainly didn’t know that feminists would want to crucify a 13yo boy over a kiss, or I’m betting he totally wouldn’t have done it. I mean, no one wants to be crucified on the Internet.

How many of you kissed someone without their permission when you were a kid? I know I sure did. That’s how I learned that it’s better if the person you’re kissing wants to be kissed. It’s how I learned that I like kissing. It’s how I learned that I like kissing girls.

Should you have been arrested? Should I?

You wanna make an example out of someone, maybe use someone who is actively trying to hurt people.

Should he be punished? Sure. A kid’s gotta learn. So give him detention, or suspend him for a day. Hold assemblies in which teachers and administrators discuss consent and proper behavior when interacting with one’s peers. Invite the parents to join you for these assemblies. On PTA night, pass out fliers that help parents feel comfortable having discussions about consent with their kids at home. Use the tools allowed to the school to train our future.

Don’t arrest him. Don’t put a 13yo in the system to make a point to his parents. Don’t potentially ruin a kid’s whole life for making a stupid kid decision that didn’t hurt anyone involved.

And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

<3