'Love is Love" is a phrase that has been around for a while, and i never used to think too much of it.
And even just this week, i saw a "Love is Love" sticker on a car.
But lately, that phrase "Love is Love" has really started to bother me,
because it's hard to imagine "Love is Love" being said, outside of the context of some weird shit that some creeper feels needs to be justified.
It sounds a lot like "don't kink-shame me bro"
but it has this creepy overtone,
like "Love is Love" becomes the internal dialog of a person contemplating raping a child.
you never hear "Love is Love" being said in the context of anything that is "socially acceptable" already...
nobody says "Love is Love" about a man and a woman getting married.
nobody even says "Love is Love" about 2 men, or 2 women, getting married.
but once you get it in your head that the context of "Love is Love" is always sketchy, you can't un-see it.
imagine the two different contexts, and see which one makes more sense...
he married his high school sweetheart, and they were happily married for over 70 years, BUT, you know what? "love is love"...
she was his sex ed teacher, and he was only 12, BUT you know what? "love is love"...
this morning i did a twitter search for the phrase "love is love" and other keywords, and it seems that i am not the only person who gets these rapey vibes from the "love is love" crowd...
i think what we need to do, is put the backlash in the hands of the victims.
there was a university, that had a professor, who was going to do a class on "MAPs"
a MAP is a "Minor-Attracted Person", which is somehow semantically different than a pedophile.
a bunch of students, went to the university leadership, and complained about allowing "MAPs" to be normalized on campus,
AND these students included in their complaint, the fact that they themselves were the victim of a "MAP", and that this professor and "their" class was re-traumautizing these MAP victims.
the university fired the professor, and made a statement about how these MAP victims testimonies had an impact on their decision-making.
but heres the thing...
MAP victims aren't just limited to university campuses.
Almost every women you know, is the victim of sexual assault, and many of these sexual assaults happened when they were minors.
So therefore, almost every woman you know, is potentially a MAP victim.
And so almost every women you know, has the potential to become "activated", as an "activist", and become "active",
to push-back against this "Love Is Love" pedophile rationalization and normalization mantra
getting the conversation started is as easy as saying,
"Love is Love Sounds Kinda Rapey To Me ... What about you? Does Love is Love sound kinda rapey to you too?"
in the comments below, please share stories of MAP victims, whether thats you, or someone else.
Its pedoey. Like "age is just a number" or "_______ is more mature than their age"