The Abuse Comic That Twitter Tore Apart

ExtraDoven
16.2K subscribers
<__slot-el>
<__slot-el>
471K views 2 months ago #cartoon #animation #review
Your Favorite Student was an expression of art from someone wanting to overcome a traumatic experience with a former professor, however Twitter's lack of empathy rose up and attacked the artist. . .  …...more
...more
Imagine my surprise seeing this in my recommended feed, haha. You covered the whole saga pretty well! Even after everything, I never regretted posting the comic – getting messages that it helped people understand and make peace with their own experiences made it all worth it. And it was cathartic! Mitch was someone who, as my professor, had controlled all the art I made – so being able to reclaim my own work, and make something in the medium that had been taken from me, was super healing. Of course, people are going to have their critiques and personal preferences about the work. At the end of the day, it was a personal expression before anything else. I’m just glad so many people connected with it – hopefully that kind of awareness makes it more difficult for abuses of power to happen again.
16K
"why don't victims speak up" when the victims speak up
15K
Wild that people are treating a grown ass married man as a victim of a relationship he started, and had power over
12K
7:19 "the professor trusted you and you betrayed him" I genuinely had to pause there for a sec, this aint just a lack of empathy, some people are just downright evil at times
11K
This is why victims don’t come out and talk about it.
6.2K
Interesting how the bulk of rude comments come from accounts with blue checkmarks, really makes you think
7.9K
also these people do not know what grooming is, it's not about an adult grooming a child, it's about a more powerful person grooming a less powerful person
7.4K
i yearn for the day people realize grooming is NOT based on only age. it is based on general power imbalance of any kind. it is a form of manipulation. it is NOT strictly a PDF thing, it is used by PDFs however. i cant believe people are still assuming grooming is only a synonym for PDFilia and not a separate thing. (have to use PDF bc specifically when i type the word youtube only ever deletes my comments for some reason.)
7.1K
I hate that grooming has been so connected to pedophilia, that other forms of grooming aren't considered grooming anymore. It doesn't matter your age, race, gender, sexuality, religion, anything, you can be a target or victim of grooming, and it doesn't matter your age, race, gender, sexuality, religion, or anything, it is still wrong and SHOULD be called out.
5K
"Why didn't victims voice out and seek help?" Them when victims actually voice out and seek help:
1.5K
I knew Twitter was Hell, but I didn't realize it would worsen. You have this young woman who is giving her experience about being groomed by a teacher she trusted (Which btw, Grooming can be by anyone, doesn't matter the age or gender) she pours her heart out to anyone, able to be vulnerable. But in response, they Victim Blamed her, siding with the groomer, drawing SA art of her, and being so awful to her. People have lost Empathy and Kindness, and it disgusts me.
4K
3:12- I made a peice about SA in one of my college art classes and my professor said that my art was too cartoony to be about SA and it was "not sexy enough to be about SA" (actual f**king quote). I was so angery, the next painting I made for the class was a painting of me, naked and crying and I named it "is this sexy enough yet?"
1.1K
The lack of empathy with some of these folks is concerning.🐱
7.6K
"Don't trauma dump on main" is basically what a lot of people were saying, even one of my favorite critique youtubers painted this in a negative light, which honestly rubbed me the wrong way. This creator is being vulnerable and people just tore them apart..
5.8K
I'm continuously demoralized in the face of rising apathy/ lack of objective thinking in general in our digital age. I think you really do some important work here, never attacking but just enlightening as best you can. I hope more people can learn to see beyond themselves.
4.7K
as a recovered victim of sexual harassment & stalking when i was 15-16 at the time, i can't believe some people lack empathy
1.5K
This is literally why I can't tell people that I know irl that I was groomed at 10 because the idiots in this video called the girl "too ugly". Being bullied for being ugly is what lead me to being groomed because I just wanted someone who didn't make fun of how I looked.
1.1K
The “leading him on” comment is something I’ve gotten from multiple people whenever I face harassment/pervert customers at work, including from my own mother and girlfriend!! It’s insane how much social media truly destroyed other people’s empathy
840
It just sucks because this type of disgusting behavior is very present in the animation education world. There are no jobs in the animation industry right now, but there definitely are educators who take advantage of this fact and pretend that they can get you a job IF you become their "favorite student".
2.1K
Imagine you're making a personal comic about violence against you, and then your comic turns into a fucking meme that doesn't take it seriously. It's sad...
1.2K
do people realise adults can be groomed too..? Grooming is a form of manipulation/abuse, why cant people educate themselves help
714
The social media space cultivated on that website is toxic. Its not that the comic is cringe, its just that beauty and sincerity is seen as cringe on that website.
2.2K
The idea with changing the art style to being more realistic would be terrifying because if you make that abuser look too much like a real person you kinda have people pointing to defend/call out a random person who seems to look like the abuser. It’s really sad that people are so… ugh on the internet and the worst part is that If this was irl they wouldn’t be saying these things.
1.7K
People drew PORN of a sexual abuser and his victim? And by context I’m guessing they posted it? To make fun of her? Everything I want to say in relation to these people goes against my morals
624
What’s crazy about this is I actually met the creator of the comic irl. We used to go to the same college before I transferred out after the first semester. When I saw it was her, my heart sank a little. Though our interaction was brief she was nothing but kind to me, and I deeply admired her and her artwork from the side. It’s such a shame people reacted to the comic that way, and the issues of empathy deficit on an online forum have reached a point where it’s just sickening to me. You can still be groomed even if you’re not a minor, it’s not about whether you’re an adult or not, it’s about power. The same goes with attractiveness. Sex crimes and things related to it are more often done so the perpetrator can feel some semblance of power, not due to whether or not the person is hot or not. Most importantly, these types of crimes are statistically committed by people who are close to you, people you know. It hurts so much to know that Erin had gone through that with someone she trusted. I wish nothing but the best for her and hope that, despite the unwarranted hate, she is thriving and living life to her fullest. My heart goes out to anyone who’s experienced this; trauma sticks with you and never fully goes away, but over time it gets better. ❤
871
1:39 twitter ALWAYS been like this, before and after Elon takeover. Its just the consequences of being terminally online as well as using anonymity as a excuse to bully people for no reason.
931
Twitter is a cesspit. I remember going on there for the first time in like a year and the first thing I saw was people harassing someone with SH scars for... posting a picture of themself holding a dog without covering up their (obviously healed) scars. Yeah I'm not coming back
483
I was there when I saw everyone hating on them for daring to open up, I hate that people can be so cruel... It feels like opening up is a worse fate than bottling everything up
780
I miss when basic empathy and enjoying things was allowed online. Now it's a nonstop search for dunks and shaming people for anything. Yeah there's people who absolutely deserve it, but it's nonstop. So exhausting.
458
The blue checkmarks....
609
3:08 nah, nah, nah. The art style has nothing to do with it. Is Maus not to ne taken seriously because the artist drew them that way, they're stylized anthropomorphic mice? People just dont care how they act online, and that attitude has been leeching into their behavior offline for the past decades.
257
I remember this quotes from someone and it always stuck in my head forever. "Humor is such a strong weapon, Someone can lose their morality if you make them laugh hard enough."
293
This is why me and other artists post our vent art to places like Tumblr. (No hate to the artist, I'm not blaming her for not posting on the "right" platform, but this just reminded me of why I avoid X like a plague)
392
i went to school with erin (albeit a grade above her) when this was going on and let me just say she is one of the most talented, genuine, and hard-working people i know. she worked on this beautiful comic for months and i'm still so incredibly proud of her for speaking up as the abuse from this professor had been going on for far too long. while i never had a class with this professor, nobody in our department had anything nice to say about him and everyone was/still is fairly creeped out by him. he still works there but hopefully not for much longer, especially because he teaches freshmen. erin's comic brought on a much needed discussion in our department and our school as a whole and i'm so proud of and happy for her. <3
204
6:54 you know its bad when INSTAGRAM of all places is better received.
108
"shouldn't have drawn it in a cartoony style" I do not agree with that statement because it's not meant for YOUR enjoyment. It's meant for the author's coping. The way you take it in is up to you, not the artist.
225
There are people drawing her getting raped? Some people are so sick.
162
Let me just make this clear, if somebody has power over you and they are using it to establish a harmless relationship that eventually dells into sexually explicit in an attempt to exploit you for sexual purposes (since that’s what this comic is focusing on) you’re being groomed. Plain and simple. (Yes, there are other types of grooming, and they follow a similar format. establish a bond with someone who perceives you having power over them, and attempt to get some thing out of them.)
213
How can people be so heartless? I would argue that with her style I find it easier to feel connected because of my connection with animated media. She was so brave to share this and she gets ridiculed for it what the hell
304
3:35 This argument is historically the laziest. Imagine going outside and getting robbed, and instead of people helping their community to promote safety, better control from authorities and empathy towards the victim, we were all like "well that's to be expected if you go outside with your phone. Should've kept it home." It's different when you warn from empathy, "careful with your phone outside, there's been lots of stealing lately" ("if you're vulnerable online, be careful, strangers could take advantage of you"). Than when you make an argument to justify your lack of sensitivity/interest: "You've been robbed? Should've stayed home." ("You were taken advantage of? doxxed? harassed? insulted? Why are you complaining? You should've seen that coming"). That argument is not only extremely dismissive and invalidating towards other's feelings, but is often said in debates uselessly. I get saying it as an observation, but wanting to engage in debate that tries to prevent a serious event that should not happen? It's as if for every danger in real life we went "it is what it is lol" and never promoted critical thinking or new values for our society lmfao. Just say you dont care about what happened, that is way better. WE KNOW the internet is this way, that's why we're criticizing it. This stuff being common doesn't justify it at all. Life is not that simple
358