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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   28724 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 28, 2023

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Probably not.

Why? By your logic the man's father was unable to consent because he was in a coma. I've read enough feminist discourse about how "Sleeping Beauty" promotes rape culture to know how I'm supposed to interpret this situation.

Because neither person, sleeping or awake, would understand the gesture as sexual or romantic. Also, in the original Sleeping Beauty tale the prince doesn't just kiss her to wake her up he has sex with and impregnates her while she's asleep. That's definitely rape.

If that's the case, then who the hell is going around interpreting pats on the back as romantic or sexual?

I mentioned the sexual or romantic aspect because the question is whether the commenter kissing their dad was sexual harassment. Nonconsensually touching someone can be bad even it if isn't sexual harassment.

Okay, so /u/Fruck kissing his comatose father on the forehead was "bad" even though it wasn't sexual harassment?

Correct, although I think it is bad in a pretty minor way.

How?

I think nonconsensually touching people is bad simpliciter. Sometimes there are good reasons to do it that outweigh the harm of doing so (carrying someone unconscious to safety from a fire or something) but generally I think it is bad.

I'm just baffled by the theory of harm here. Do you really think that if /u/Fruck's father came out of his coma and found out that his son had kissed him on the forehead during his coma, he'd be outraged and feel that his son had violated his personal boundaries? I find that essentially impossible to believe. Crimes do actually require a victim you know.

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