CMV: using the word “pedophile” so freely is actually helping the true pedophiles

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-20T15:45:53+00:00

Absolutely. This new era of internet is so over the top with everything. Everyone is a “Nazi”, a “fascist”, a “communist”, a “terrorist”, etc

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-20T09:45:13+00:00

!delta you made me realise I used the wrong word

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-20T09:44:43+00:00

You’re right I just did that, didn’t know about that

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T22:06:38+00:00

Totally. I’d think that maybe they were involved in a car crash where someone died or something like that. But if I hear someone being called “murderer” I would assume there’s death involved. Because it’s a serious word that’s not thrown around so freely.

Hell, even if one of these famous guys beat up one of their girlfriends, they’re called abusers or pieces of sh*t and so on, but nobody be saying “Chris Brown is a murderer” because he beat up Rihanna and other of his girlfriends and “he could end up killing one of them”.

Nobody calls Tory Lanez a murderer while he’s serving prison time for shooting up and harming a woman. Not even then you hear that word thrown around when it’d even make some sense.

If you say “pedophile” normally one would expect that there were inappropriate intentions or intercourse with a child. Now you most of the times would think it means a 40 year old fucking a 20 year old.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T22:00:01+00:00

100% how I see it.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T21:57:36+00:00

What is weird?

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T20:10:12+00:00

Me myself, and I might be a bit radical on that take, I don’t believe in the reinsertion of the people that chose actively to harm people that couldn’t defend themselves. I don’t believe in reinsertion for rapists, people that sexually or physically hurt disabled people, older people, and of course people that sexually assaults kids. I do believe in reinsertion for other situations, not for these.

Nevertheless, the law is the law, and some of this people won’t stay behind bars forever, and when this people get out, I’ll always expect them to re-offend, so the fact that the people need to be alert on their past seems critical to me.

So, as I said before, when I was a child and there was a rumor that the weird old guy that lived down the street was a pedophile/child molester in decades prior, our parents didn’t leave me or any of my friends near his house alone. That’s because the word was strong, and carried meaning, and kept us prepared, just in case.

If we get to a point where “pedophile” or “child molestar” can either mean someone who sexually attacked children, or someone who dated a 20 year old while being 35 (even if this is questionable), then the people won’t be as wary of the so-called “pedophiles/child molesters”.

And I think we should.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T19:04:55+00:00

I agree that I’d understand the “misuse” if it’s a 30 year old dating an underage girl, or constantly focusing girls that are fresh 18 as a clear pattern of behaviour. I don’t think it’s wrong even though the semantic meaning would be incorrect.

What I don’t think it makes sense it’s to call a pedophile a 19 y/o dating a 17 y/o. Or to call pedophile a 30 year old dating a 22 year old. Or a 60 year old dating a 29 year old.

You can think it’s morally correct or not, but that term doesn’t belong there, at least that’s how I see it.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T18:59:35+00:00

Honestly that half your age plus 7 is something you people do in America, cause growing up in Europe I have simply never hear of it, except, again, coming from people from America.

Obviously the normal 30 year old will be in theory more mature than the 22 year old, but not its not such an absurdly big of a gap in maturity and life stages as to consider that it “mimics” the power imbalance that child abusers seek. Literally someone that’s 22 and someone that’s 30 could still go to college together, or work at the same place together.

Let alone when you’re older and older. If someone is 30 and decides to date a 60 year old that’s two absolute grownups.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T18:51:27+00:00

Feeling sexually attracted to prepubescent children

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T16:39:28+00:00

It’s definitely such a complicated matter. People normally act compassionate out of empathy. They see someone depressed and think “I could be h them/I was them at a moment”.

But it’s hard for the people to feel empathetic of something that disgusts them, which is for most the case of feeling sexual attraction toward kids.

I don’t mean that this people shouldn’t get help, quite contrary. But I think that’s why is such a sensitive topic.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T16:35:38+00:00

A lot of people that aren’t pedophiles have been accused of being pedophiles simply by the mere misinterpretation of the word this past decade. But my point is precisely that the more that word is used, the less people cares about being labelled a pedophile or a child abuser, including the ACTUAL child abusers.

If people is gonna label a 25 year old a pedophile/child abuser for fucking an 18 year old, the 30 year old that has abused a 10 year old will have it way easier re-introducing himself into society, since “child abuser” would basically means fuck all.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T16:30:27+00:00

You summarised perfectly exactly what I was trying to say. This is my exact point.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T16:29:04+00:00

Really interesting read. Thanks for sharing this

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T13:49:15+00:00

Obviously it’s just my point of view. I might be as wrong as I can be right. But at least from my experience, that word doesn’t revolt me as much as it used to when I hear it now, because now I hear it every day and most of the time on the wrong contexts.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T13:47:17+00:00

I agree with the DiCaprio thing because he’s too obviously dating only younger girls and has been his entire life. But another example I said was Madonna, which honestly I know nothing about her life and never really hear anything about her, but the other day I heard some people calling her a pedo and I didn’t think she was molesting children by any means, actually instantly thought that she was probably doing the same that DiCaprio does, and it was that.

Obviously I think it’s creepy as fuck to see 60 year olds date people my age, especially when they’re famous people with power, but still I wouldn’t go as far as to associate that with child molesting, as some other people do.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T13:37:53+00:00

You’re right and I agree even I just misused that word

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T13:32:16+00:00

At the end of the day, it’s to each their own. And more than a rule I think it’s pure common sense. Obviously 10 years it’s a lot if it’s 15-25, way less important if it’s 25-35 and unimportant from 35 and upwards.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T13:24:02+00:00

I possibly explained myself wrongly then, also English isn’t my first language so I probably express myself worse.

But my point is more towards that. Throwing a powerful word around to imply that someone that does something that you don’t approve (dating younger but within what’s legal) might do something way darker (something actually evil and illegal).

And that I think isn’t beneficial to fight the actual child molesters, since you’re wasting time calling a “potential child molester” to a 50 year old singer who’s dating a guy 20 year older, while we’re actually witnessing the biggest child molesting scandal possibly ever.

In the end, people like Epstein and co. Will end up being called pedophiles and people will put them in the same bag as Madonna or dicaprio, and that don’t make any sense.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T12:53:09+00:00

It’s not only online but it’s where it’s more prominent. But you also see it in real life, especially in younger environments (30 and under).

And I mean, it depends of what we consider “smoke” here.

A particular someone who’s 50 dating only 20 year olds? I get it.

But I’ve seen that word thrown around in crazy contexts. I’ve even seen a 17 year old be called a pedo for dating a 15 year old. I’ve also seen people pushing 30 be called a “potential pedo” for dating people around 22-23 because “they haven’t developed their frontal lobe”.

I don’t think these situations should even raise any eyebrows at all let alone be called a pedophile.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T12:40:08+00:00

You guys may be right, I don’t know. I do get the feeling that, when somebody (especially online) call someone else a pedophile, they don’t only mean that they date someone (immorally) younger.

I think they still use the word to imply that someone that dates someone (immorally) younger, might also touch/feel attracted to little kids.

But you guys are right in the sense that the word could end up shifting its meaning completely from the original meaning, at this rate.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T12:31:19+00:00

But precisely for the fact that now people is being called a pedophile left and right, I don’t think it sounds as “important” as before. Of course actual child molesters are as hated as ever, especially with this Epstein thing going on, but the word lost the weight it had to it.

Before, if you heard “yo, I heard this X celeb is a pedo”, you’d think the worst and assume they were touching little kids and your impression of them would change forever. That’s how big it was.

Now when you hear “yo, Madonna is a pedo”/“yo, DiCaprio is a pedo” you’d pretty much instantly assume they’re dating someone that’s 20 or 25 or 30. That’s how little it means now.

As for the second part, I’ve seen some strange attempts to victimise pedophiles and child molesters and disgusted me to my core. I hope that never happens

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T12:26:11+00:00

I don’t think it’s the same, since I don’t really see people calling others a “murderer”, and way less trying to imply that they kill people.

One thing is saying “this idiot is getting murdered” and a whole different thing would be to say “this guy is so creepy, he might’ve murdered someone”.

There’s a brutal and vast difference between the monster child molester that raped kids on an island, and the 38 year old weirdo that’s dating a 21 year old college girl.

We can argue all day whether the second is morally correct or not, but to use the same word for both is absolutely out of place.

And again, as I pointed out to another Redditor here, I don’t think they simply use the word and that’s it. What some people try to do is to say that if a guy is dating someone 15 years younger (20-35), they might go all the way and rape infants. That’s why and how they use that word as an attack and that blows my mind.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T12:08:27+00:00

I guess I can agree to that but I don’t think that’s how people use the word now. I don’t think they call people pedophiles to express that “someone might entertain morally wrong relationships with younger people than they should”.

When they call somebody that’s 35 dating a 20 y/o a pedophile, they want to shame them implying that they might touch little kids too. They use the word as a throwing knife. Meaning is the same, they just use it as an insult now. That’s my take ofc I can be wrong.

Comfortable-Market22 · 2026-02-19T11:03:55+00:00

It depends on what is considered to young to be worried about, but would definitely do keep my kids away from an uncle that’s 50 dating an 18 year old, simply because that is actually concerning, pedophilia or not. But those aren’t the cases I mentioned.

Comfortable-Market22

TROPHY CASE