beta
Guys I want to preface this by saying I'm absolutely not a fan of grooming, pedo or anything remotely related. This’s purely a hypothetical question out of curiosity.
If an adult knows someone from childhood and at that time, the adult genuinely saw them only as a child, no romantic feelings, no ulterior motives, zero weirdness, just wholesome support, just kindness. but later, when both are fully grown adults, the older person develops romantic feelings for the now-adult individual...
Is it inherently wrong to have those feelings? Does this even happen IRL or is it just a trope? How is this different from grooming, which is clearly manipulative and intentional from the start? I'm trying to understand the ethical lines here, since grooming is about predatory intent, whereas this scenario suggests feelings developed after both parties reached adulthood. Like where’s the line between “the purely form of love” “This is weird, This feels off” ?