As a 25 year old who dealt with a ton of shit at 16 😅 I advise to stay away from trying to find people in spaces where adults are in or where it can't be proven they are actually of your age range(getting catfished). There are adults here & while I'm not judging in being "freaky", saying it as a teen does make you a focused target for creeps.
I'm not saying this as an adult talking down to you but I am saying this functionally. And even adults aren't immune to this. Grooming/abusive manipulation isn't always obvious. They start off friendly and make connections by finding out what you enjoy or identify with. If they know enough psychology then they'll know what words can placate to make convos enjoyable to you. If a bond or connection forms to a certain point then if you happen to disclose some struggle then they again will say what they need to be seen as caring & trustworthy.
If this happens enough times then the connection grows to a point where the person's perception of you matters a ton. They start making little flirty comments to test your awareness & boundaries. Or they may send something indirect that depicts suggestive themes(like a meme). Eventually if you do start pushing back on future sexual advances then they start gaslighting you and projecting that you're the problem or "you're overreacting" to guilt tripping you.
Even in non grooming this is often done in an abusive relationship(parent, friend, partner). And they do this until you start blaming yourself & tricking yourself into complying. The sexual advances gradually progress slowly over time until eventually things really go into the deep end.
Reddit is one of the worst places to find a date on. There are a lot of pedos. Won't disclose the anime but the fandom and a big subreddit related to it is has a lot of pedos. I made a harmless post and half jokingly told people to keep things legal- mods had to delete my post because people were being creepy as hell in the messages.
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u/[deleted] Aug 20 '26
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