Duolingo is trying to queer us again.

[PollyHutchen]

Not content with describing JK Rowling as 'gemein' mean, Duoling's German course is busy normalising BDSM/kink to users of all ages. Here - image attached - we learn that single Dad Eddy has a leather suit and a whip in the cupboard. Duolingo encourages users to sign up via its family plan. But I wouldn't really fancy explaining this one to younger members of my own family.

Omfg but I always thought this app was crapp with random bits of vocab shoved here and there.

Duolingo has moved towards and AI model. They are using AI to create their lesson content. That’s why this is happening.

There is no way to excuse this, in my opinion. Only those with non existent boundaries would excuse dialogue involving a child and parent in this way. It is a massive safeguarding red flag.

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

That poster has never encountered anything as ''fun''. Vom.

Where and how is the AI "learning" ans why has the developers not written code to stop pickup lines and other adult conversations being regurgitated without prompting.

I don’t work for Duolingo nor do I work for an AI developer. I don’t know.

I do pay attention to the news and the Duolingo AI scandal, which included a bunch of people losing their jobs.

I so need a t shirt with For fuck's sake on the front, everyday I read another reason why I need one. Maybe I could have it in German on the back

Sorry.
that was more a rhetorical statement rather than "blaming" you.
The company appear to be making poor choices to save on professional content.

Umm you know that kinks are not appropriate for children and my sons school uses it.
Why are you minimizing exposing children to inappropriate fetish material just because some straight people do it?

That’s not a response to my post. Something can be inappropriate without being specific to queer people.

It’s not minimising anything to ask the OP not to claim with zero basis that this has anything to do with ‘queering’ Duolingo.

No. Thats a lie. I haven’t defended this. I am asking people to stop lying by claiming, with zero evidence, that this has anything to do with queering Duolingo.

Or do you think minority groups should just shut up and accept being lied about?

What is your definition of "queer people" and how is it relevant to the subject matter "to queer" either you or someone else?

It’s an appropriate use of ‘queering’ in the sense that @Ereshkigalangcleg explains upthread 👆. It’s a usage of the term that is found elsewhere, neither she nor the OP have made up its use in this sense.

It also doesn’t mean what you seem to think it does.

@PlanetJanette I think you might not be up to date on how the word ‘queer’ is used these days.

I thought kink and BDSM did count as queer these days. Spicy straights and all that. I thought the whole point of queer was to be a broad church that embraces and celebrates all marginalised sexualities: basically anyone who likes anything outside vanilla straight sex with one partner at a time.

What is being 'queered' is the boundary between childhood - a place where the young are not ready to understand adult sexuality - and adulthood where consenting mature people can find pleasure in a variety of ways.

Children who need to know about 'gentle hands' and not fighting - are not ready to know that some adults find excitement in playing games that involve inflicting/receiving pain.

I cannot think of any age-appropriate explanation to give a child who was puzzled about the story of Junior and Eddy, and who wanted to know why Eddy really had a leather suit and a whip.

It’s not though. The concept of queering is inherently related to challenging norms around sexuality and gender.

Claiming that any example of inappropriate sexualisation of children is ‘queering’ is both wrong and dangerous.

Dammit I thought words meant whatever you wanted them to these days...which makes learning vocab a waste of time actually.
We're heading into a world where we communicate by interpretive dance and emojis, though I think some of those are ambiguous cos I was only asking for a brinjal bhaji and I got a nasty surprise.

Though in seriousness, as per pp, really not appropriate for an app recommended by schools for young children. All sorts of boundary pushing going on.

That’s all fine but that is not about challenging heteronormativity or cisnormativity and to claim that it is is blatantly just an abhorrent attempt to wedge child sexualisation and queerness together.

You have no idea who added this - if it even was a human - or why. So how can you claim it even meets your own broad definition of queering?

It’s not though. The concept of queering is inherently related to challenging norms around sexuality and gender which relate to children too.

Claiming that any example of inappropriate sexualisation of children is ‘queering’ is not wrong or dangerous rather an observation that some people advocate to normalise such activity and ideas being applied to children

But your original objection was that BDSM shouldn't be called "queer" because straight people do it. Nothing to do with sexualising children. You were policing "queer" as something straight people cannot be.

How is queer a minority group? If non binary falls under the queer umbrella, as 99.9 % of the world is on binary as they don’t adhere to gendered stereotypes, then queer people are actually the majority. So yay!, we’re all queer here.

I’m using straight to specifically refer to non-queer people, not just heterosexual. Someone might be non-binary and heterosexual and identify as queer for example.

Someone yes BDSM is not something that only queer people do.

As the thread has gone on though the claim that any unacceptable sexualising of children is ‘queering’ - even if it’s done by AI, or regardless of motive - is wrong and it is used with a very specific and hateful intent.