2 articles in The Week
What conservatives really mean when they say 'groomer'
And
Why are Republicans so concerned about 'grooming'?
What conservatives really mean when they say groomer
Liberals are perplexed by conservatives' increasing use of the word "groomer" to describe opponents of the Florida parental rights law and similar policies elsewhere. They are right that the term is hyperbolic at best and worst conflates a host of complex issues with pedophilia.
But liberals (and conflict-averse conservatives) are wrong to confidently predict it will necessarily be perceived by persuadable people as QAnon craziness. It's not entirely clear that many such people even know what QAnon is. And it is just as risky for liberals to reduce all concerns about child pornography and age-appropriateness of sex education to Pizzagate. The obsessions of the "Very Online" on both sides impoverish virtually any debate.
The conservatives who favor the term see it as no worse than bad-faith accusations of racism, which can be similarly career-ending and life-altering. And social conservatives know many of their opponents genuinely do regard their beliefs about human sexuality — still taught by many of the world's major religions — as bigotry morally indistinguishable from racial hatred. Public schools are supported by parents who hold both viewpoints and are not going to be able to easily accommodate this cultural divide.
continued at
https://theweek.com/talking-points/1012257/what-conservatives-really-mean-when-they-say-groomer
https://archive.ph/RCpKI
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Why are Republicans so concerned about grooming?
April 4, 2022
Suddenly the American right is fairly exploding with accusations of sexual "grooming" against its political opponents.
Christina Pushaw, the spokesperson for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, used the term last month to defend the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill. "If you're against the Anti-Grooming Bill," she tweeted, "you are probably a groomer or at least you don't denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children." Rod Dreher, who writes at The American Conservative, has in recent days lobbed the term at "pervy" Disney for its (belated) opposition to the new law, and labeled Democrats the "party of child mutilators & kidnappers." And MAGA outlet American Greatness on Monday printed a broadside against "Groomer Fragility."
"It's not a very nice word, to be sure," wrote the American Greatness author. "But the right must decide: Do we prefer to play nice with perverts who are very sexually interested in our children? Or do we prefer to stand up for the innocence of childhood against societal forces that seek to mutilate little kids for political gain?"
It's hard to know how much of this is sincere hysteria and how much is ugly, McCarthyist politics. Mostly the latter, probably: In its normal usage, "groomer" suggests a sexual predator, carefully prepping their prey for assault. But Dreher — who has long been obsessively shrill about the rise of gay and trans identities in American culture — says that's not really what he means.
continued at
https://theweek.com/conservatism/1012140/why-are-republicans-so-concerned-about-grooming
https://archive.ph/8brOs