what do you think about tumblr posts saying “a grown ass 40 year old man has no business talkin to 18 year olds?
…as if all 40 year olds are intellectually superior to every 18 year old. i even know people 20 years older than me who are absolute morons and have less “world” experience than me from living isolated shallow lives.
am i right or wrong to want any 18 year to be able to choose who they want in their life regardless of age and any 40 year old to be open to 18 year olds without thinking 18 year olds are incapable of making choices?
(submitted by: Anonymous)
What I think:
- That’s a hyperbolic slogan, not personal advice about your nuanced, individual life. Like most slogans, it has an underlying message. Like most messages, it might not be directly applicable to your lived experience. And that’s okay. It made you think, and that’s the important bit.
- It isn’t about how smart or worldly the individuals are… it’s about agendas. While it’s obviously not always the case, 40 year old men and 18 year old girls often have drastically different —or subtly opposing— objectives. It’s not necessarily a problem if you can see that, but it’s a disaster waiting to happen if you can’t.
- With that said, yeah… emotionally stunted dipshits exist, and intellectually sophisticated 18 year olds can be found. But dumb old men can do their own sort of damage, and bright young girls can get themselves in over their heads.
- You’re right of course, but only because the advice in question is self-righteously melodramatic. If you dismiss the overheated rhetoric and look at the underlying warning —“significant imbalances of power are prone to corruption”— I’d say it’s still worth hearing.