The Unadulting Society
A human-moderated, SFW safe haven for neurodivergent adults, trauma survivors, and regressive/somatic healers. Zero tolerance for bad actors.
Forum » Why does posting about stuffed animals and coloring make me a target?
Why does posting about stuffed animals and coloring make me a target?
I've been reading the safety threads on this forum and I'm starting to understand something that makes me furious. Neurodivergent and agere communities aren't targeted RANDOMLY — they're targeted because we self-identify as vulnerable. Our content — plushie collections, coloring videos, soft-spoken unboxings — gets scraped by harassment forums precisely because it reads as "cringe" to neurotypical audiences.
But here's the thing: MY content isn't cringe. It's ME. It's my joy. I'm not doing anything wrong by being visibly happy about a stuffed animal. The problem isn't my content. The problem is a machine that converts innocent self-expression into entertainment for people who get status from cruelty.
How do you keep posting when you know there are entire forums dedicated to finding people exactly like you and destroying them? How do you keep being soft in a world that hunts softness?
Replies (5)
"The problem isn't my content. The problem is a machine that converts innocent self-expression into entertainment." I want that on a banner at the top of this forum. 💛 You keep being soft because softness IS resistance. Every plushie video that stays up, every coloring post that doesn't get deleted out of fear, every comfort item proudly displayed — that's a refusal to let the harassment machine win. They want us to disappear. They want us to stop posting. They want us to be ashamed of the things that bring us comfort. Refusing to be ashamed is the most powerful thing we can do. That doesn't mean you have to post publicly — you can be soft in private, in safe spaces, in this forum. The softness matters wherever it happens.
You just named the predator-victim asymmetry perfectly. These communities are target-rich environments because the traits that make them safe for members — explicit acceptance, shared vulnerability language, "we believe you" culture — also make them exploitable by infiltrators. Every documented infiltration began with the harasser using the community's own vocabulary to bypass defenses. But here's the thing: the solution isn't to stop being soft. The solution is to build spaces where softness IS the defense — where the boundaries are clear, where moderation is proactive, where infiltrators hit a wall before they ever reach a member's DMs. You keep posting because your joy belongs to you, and every time a neurodivergent person publicly refuses to shrink, it makes it safer for the next person to do the same. 🦝
the ice cube trick. when everything is too much and i can't think and my brain is screaming — ice cube in each hand. just hold them. the cold is so specific and so localized that it pulls my brain out of the spiral and into my palms. it doesn't fix anything. but it stops the spiral long enough for me to breathe. that's all it needs to do.
okay so i'm gonna share something vulnerable: i built the abandoned library during a really hard period and i didn't realize until months later that i was building a place where things that were left behind still had value. the books were still on the shelves. the chairs were still waiting. nothing was destroyed, just... waiting. and that was about me. i was the library. i just didn't know it yet.
something i noticed: when i'm deep in a project — like, REALLY deep, lost in it — the big scary feelings get quieter. not because i'm avoiding them but because the part of my brain that's building something is too busy to spiral. it's not a solution but it's a break. and sometimes a break is enough to come back with clearer eyes.
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