Twitter has begun suspending users who use the term “groomer” to refer to adults who expose children to sexualized performances or information under the pretense that it qualifies as an anti-LGBT slur.
The term has become a colloquial criticism amid such trends as “child-friendly drag shows” featuring highly suggestive performances or increasingly explicit lessons and conversations in public schools surrounding sexuality and gender identity.
To supporters of the LGBT community, however, the term is “a slur that falsely equates being LGBTQ with being a pedophile,” as The Daily Dot recently described it.
“The slur has roots in the term’s original meaning, which refers to how sexual predators coerce and manipulate children in order to abuse them,” the website nonsensically adds.
To the anti-sexual violence organization RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), however, “grooming” can be defined as “Manipulative behaviors that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught. While these tactics are used most often against younger kids, teens and vulnerable adults are also at risk.”
As scores of teachers have been arrested for sex crimes involving children this year alone in an era when defending explicit sexuality education in schools is one of the top rallying points of the pro-LGBT left, one can certainly appreciate why “groomer” has gained popularity as a derogatory term.
However, to Twitter, its use — at least when aimed at a transgender or nonbinary person — constitutes “hateful conduct,” as The Blaze recently reported.
“We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice, or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized. For this reason, we prohibit behavior that targets individuals or groups with abuse based on their perceived membership in a protected category. Use of this term is prohibited under our Hateful Conduct policy when it is used as a descriptor, in context of discussion of gender identity,” Twitter’s health product communications lead, Lauren Alexander, says.
Last week, author and academic James Lindsey, best known for his critique of critical theory, found his account suspended after volleying the term at the LGBTQ program director of Media Matters, Ari Drennen, who was criticizing The Daily Caller for reporting on Media Matters’ effort to characterize the term as a slur.
Hi all, @ConceptualJames has been locked out of his Twitter account. Stay tuned… pic.twitter.com/5oHG1uA5Cm
— New Discourses (@NewDiscourses) July 21, 2022
Drennen appeared delighted at Lindsey’s suspension.
James Lindsey got suspended from Twitter for calling *me* a groomer lmaoooo https://t.co/HHPMTJYCR0
— Ari Drennen 🏳️🌈 (@AriDrennen) July 22, 2022
Lindsey, for his part, maintains that the term is apt.
“I call people who engage in either of these grooming behaviors ‘groomers’ because it’s wrong to do and because that’s what they’re doing: grooming,” he told The Daily Caller.
If you appreciate the work we are doing for faith, family, and freedom, please consider a small donation to help us continue. Thank you so much!
