(For context of why I’m posting this link, please read the following)
Hello to everybody still following this blog!
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I regret that I left one day without really saying why or even announcing that I was going to take an indefinite hiatus.
I’m back today because I want to tell you all why I left in the first place. I found this topic was incredibly hard to broach, even when I was still somewhat active here, so I haven’t really said a word about it till now as I’m feeling ready to speak.
Before you read further, know that I’m about to talk about how I was a minor in a romantic relationship with adult. If that is at all a triggering topic, please take care.
In fall 2019, I broke up with my at the time fiance; a Once-ler fandom member going by the screen name Yoyo-illuser. It was at that time that I was coming to terms with the fact that our relationship had always had an extremely unhealthy power imbalance, as I was 16 years old when Yoyo, at the time 26, reciprocated the crush that I had on her and we entered a romantic relationship. I was also coming to terms with the fact that in all those years she never took any responsibility to end the relationship herself and had generally mistreated me in ways she never worked to correct.
Because this relationship spanned 7 years, I have a lot of details to cover. So the document I’ve linked here provides me the space to explain and provide evidence of what my ex has done and what transpired between us.
There are content warnings posted at the start of this document:
Please do take care of yourself if at any point reading this becomes uncomfortable.
I just felt I had to speak out about this because silence doesn’t really change anything. If she’s still in the fandom and she still hasn’t improved, I fear for anybody else in a similar position to me when I was 16 and anyone in a vulnerable place for that matter.
This fandom is and always will be a minor dominated space and it’s up to adults in the fandom to ensure that other adults are not assaulting or exploiting minors or generally doing any creepy sh*t and call this behavior out when they see it.
I also hope that although it should never be solely up to minors to protect themselves from adults that there is more understanding these days that there is NO exception to an adult taking interest in them, even if it is solely romantic and that they will know the signs.
What I didn’t understand at 16 was how much age DOES matter. No matter how much you have in common with an adult, they are in a different stage of life and there will always be an unbalanced power dynamic in the relationship that favors the adult and gives them the power to exploit you and take advantage of your lack of development, lack of experience and the trust they earn from you.
I had to learn this the hard way. So I’m sharing what I’ve experienced now in hopes that people can learn from this.