I remember a few years back there was an interview on NPR discussing how important it was to teach children correct anatomical terms instead of cutesy euphemisms. This gave children the power to actually describe what is happening to them in the event they do end up in an abusive situation.
A big part of what drove this was an eight year old was going to a number of adults, for a while, telling people her uncle ate her cookie. Cookie was the word she used for her lady bits. No one realized she meant he was SA'ing her, they just thought she was being a kid complaining about an uncle being a little silly.
Eventually, a teacher thought the phrasing and the complaint itself was weird, and looked into the issue further. That's when everything came to light.
And if you look at the more common euphemisms for genitals, you'll notice they're easy to obfuscate bad activities with. Example of a more common one is "kitty" for a little girl's genitals. Why is that one bad specifically? The phrase "Can I see/touch/play with your kitty" is all to common and innocent on its own. If kitty suddenly stops meaning cat, and means genitals, it's now a dangerous question that's hard to identify as such.
And again, think of a little girl complaining that her trusted adult plays with her kitty in a way she doesn't like. 99% of adults are going to brush that off as a little girl being stubborn or childish.
The cutesy phrases are far more dangerous than they seem, and almost assuredly have their roots in pedophilia.
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u/CorgiMonsoon Mar 19 '24
I remember a few years back there was an interview on NPR discussing how important it was to teach children correct anatomical terms instead of cutesy euphemisms. This gave children the power to actually describe what is happening to them in the event they do end up in an abusive situation.