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Hey Pandas, What Are Some “It’s Not What It Looks Like” Moments You’ve Had?
I’ll go first—back when I was in 9th grade, I was in my physics class. The teacher was kind of chill, and a few days prior, I had been to the Wellness Center, where they had some websites on what to do if you’re being abused by a friend, family member, etc. One of the websites is called whatsok.org, and I looked at it, not because I was being abused or anything, just out of curiosity. I got to the page where it said, “What do I do if I’m having sexual thoughts about children?” and I read through it. My school has the ability to see what you’re searching and flag it as appropriate or inappropriate, and I guess the words “sexual thoughts about children” got negative attention from the tech team and the principal.
Fast forward to the next day: my mom was dropping me off at school after getting Starbucks with me. She said, "Honey, I need to talk to you about something. You’re not in trouble at all, but…” and then we started discussing the “sexual thoughts about children” search, how the tech team saw that, and how the principal had apparently emailed her about it. She explained to me why that was not appropriate, and in my autistic mind, I thought, “Is this inappropriate? Well, it’s a school-recommended site for those who are being abused, so…” No, I didn’t get called to the principal’s office that day, nor did I get in any other trouble with the school. ;) Yes, my mom did clarify that I wasn’t trying to be inappropriate and was just curious.I did tell the head of the Wellness Center about it, though, and we both agreed that yes, it is a site recommended by the school, but since it had those words in the tab, it wasn’t school-appropriate.
I know that one’s on me, but sometimes the context clues can make it hard to understand!
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