Comment #5,839,751

Twitch Streamer 'Arcadum' Accused Of Grooming, Manipulation By Over 20 Women, Dropped By Talent Agency - Comment #5,839,751

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Timstuff

Sep 02, 2021 at 05:48PM EDT in reply to GamerDLM

That would be harassment, which we already have a term for, and harassment is illegal. Grooming implies establishing trust / rapport with someone with the intention of taking advantage of them later, which is why it's considered so heinous regarding child abuse. Unlike a child an adult knows when someone has crossed the line into harassment. Saying a woman was being "groomed" makes it sound like a man was offering her toys and candy and asking her parents if they could take her to a baseball game, which sounds silly with an adult woman, but are common tactics used by child predators.

The #MeToo movement is not doing itself any favors trying to conflate the language used to describe child abuse with the sexual harassment of adult women. Both are problems that deserve to be taken seriously but we should not be thinking of adult women in the same way we think of vulnerable children.

GamerDLM

Sep 02, 2021 at 07:19PM EDT in reply to Timstuff

Yes, he established a trust/rapport with the people and then used those communications in an attempt to emotionally manipulate them and/or make unwanted advances.
Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is usually emphasized by a degree of intimidation. Grooming is trying to gain something through positive reinforcement where harassment is a negative act at the expense of the targeted person. They're inverse sides of the same scummy coin.
Grooming in a legal context as I pointed out can also imply examples like befriending a child's parents to gain their trust. Based on your example parents cannot be groomed simply because they are adults yet despite that you included parental consent as part of the example. Regarding criminal law your definition that it can seemingly never apply to adults is objectively wrong.

Also yes both are problems that should be addressed and taken care, so you should have accurate definitions to recognize each form of abuse and warning signs before they become a major issue. Adult women shouldn't have to deal with emotional manipulation tactics until they are explicitly assaulted. In the same way that an adult woman shouldn't put up with abusive relationships just because their partner is sometimes a good person.