Amongst the myriad of unnecessary guidelines in efforts to make the Episode app more “child-friendly” since the app is rated +12 (at least on the Apple App Store,) there seemed to be a huge regulation missing from the lot.
And by the huge regulation I mean the ban of glorified teacher- student relationships.
If you’ve been on the Episode app recently, you’re probably not a stranger to the gross number of stories that push a romanticized version of what it is to be in a relationship with someone who is not only older but also holds real power over you.
And if to you that doesn’t sound wrong, then let me explain why it is.
Having a relationship with any member of staff is surprise surprise against the rules; which in a real setting would get the teacher fired and probably prosecuted.
“But so so and so is 18 therefore it’s legal1!1!1!1” First of all legality ≠ morality. Any grown man, woman etc. who engages in a relationship with a minor or a barely legal teen is repeat after me! A predator.
But this isn’t just about sex, a significant age gap between the 2 parties (especially at a young age) gives room for emotional abuse that has a long lasting impact on someone’s psyche.
And don’t get me started on college student teacher relationships, but a TL;DR:
IT IS STILL WRONG!
Image being in a relationship with somebody who has the power to decide if you graduate or not. If anything goes south you could be wasting thousands of dollars over a petty adult with revenge on their mind.
Back to the first paragraph, the app is +12, meaning that there are young teens on the app who see stories like this on the trending page and actually featured by episode cough cough prosecutie and may think it’s ok for a teacher to engage on an inappropriate relationship with them because stories have made it to be such a wonderful and thrilling experience.
I think it’s terribly irresponsible for episode to police simple things that are likely to have little impact like swearing, literally 8 year olds drop f bombs, and keep something like this that conditions young people (mostly girls) to be ok with inappropriate displays of “affection” by older people.