Am I Being Safe Enough At Parties

Is online dating safe or not?

I don't think on-line dating is any more risky than any other activity in public, assuming you take similar, common sense precautions. 1) Control the information you give out -  if you don't know someone, limit what you share until you know them well enough to be trusted. I wouldn't give information that can lead to you too quickly, like address....home or work. Maybe limit to mentioning general areas when talking about yourself, use county instead of town. I wouldn' t necessarily mention specific high school, for example. I also would reveal any regular rituals, like places where you frequent often. Any email or phone numbers should be generic as possible, not something that can be traced to a place. Email addresses that are already in use could be associated with other identifying info.  Create a new one, if possible. Avoid referencing info during talking/typing that provide aLocation where you might be easily found. 2) meet in a very public place  with prospective people - avoid inviting directly to your home or near where you work.  Let someone where you are going, info about who you will be with, what you plan on doing for the time, where you will be...maybe even have the check up with you. Call you during the date, maybe.  If you really want to be James Bond-secret agent safe, maybe come up with a safe phrase that tells them you are fine. Another phrase if you are concerned and need help  3) trust your gut - if you are not sure or are picking up a bad vibe; make or use a pre-fab excuse that you need to get going. Be polite, excuse yourself then go. Don't isolate yourself with that person. Finished dinner and want to go elsewhere? Go windowshopping at a mall. Drive separately. Play down any safety behavior as "having paranoid parents" or what-not.  A patient, understanding person will appreciate the precautions....and you don't need to worry about those who find the precautions annoying. It will be something to joke around about late if it works out. I share this info without identifying the genders of those potentially involved, for the record. However, men can probably consider this for themselves. Although, I didn' really...even though I met my wife on-line.  We still laugh about it, almost 20 years later. When people talk about "meeting a weirdo on the Internet",  it's become a privately shared smile between us. \U0001f609

Is 9,000mg of Zoloft enough to overdose and die?

Sometimes.SSRIs are not very reliable drugs for suicide—most people do not die no matter what dose they take. 9,000mg is certainly in the upper range, but people have survived similar doses and there is not necessarily a huge increase in fatality between medium doses and high doses. Even therapeutic doses cause death more often than placebo, so the issue here is just that they are not as dose-volatile as many conventional drugs used for suicide.It is still possible to die from SSRI overdose, and there is a several-fold increase in the chances of death when SSRIs are combined with one or more other psychotropic drugs. If you want a better (as in more feasible) story, perhaps throw in some other drugs, like alcohol and over-the-counter drugs. These should generally be accessible to someone who is taking Zoloft, even if they are young. Things that interfere with antidepressants being metabolized and things that synergistically cause instability or injury are notable candidates.To learn more, you can read through my main answer on SSRI overdosing here: What can happen if someone overdoses on Prozac? and also check out the medical journal articles linked at the end for additional insight or Zoloft-specific experiences. Suicide attempts with SSRIs are not uncommon, and even occur during clinical trials for antidepressants. Certain groups of people are even more likely to attempt suicide with antidepressants specifically (for a variety of related and unrelated reasons, like accessibility).For a briefer rundown of what might happen if someone tries to overdose on Zoloft, here are two similar posts which also includes warnings about asking for help if someone not-imaginary is struggling with the idea of living and eying their antidepressants:Mark Dunn's answer to What would happen if someone overdosed on Zoloft, like 1000mg?Mark Dunn's answer to Can one overdose on Zoloft (sertraline)? How much would be required?

What is your view of consensual incest?

When studying philosophy, one of the first concepts you try to break down and understand is morality.Morality is the extent to which an action is considered to be “right” or “wrong”. All around the world, when it is time to define the rules of a specific society, the first thing defined as “wrong” is incest.It is often presented to be the only thing that is universally considered as immoral.But when digging a bit more, you learn that in certain civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt, incest was normalized. Pharaohs would marry their sisters, and have kids with them. It was not, in their code of conduct, considered to be “wrong” or “unnatural”.It then becomes a philosophical and sociological question. Why do we consider incest to be wrong?I think there are a few reasons for the general banning of incest (even when it exists between two consensual adults):Incest goes against our natural functions. When two related people reproduce, it causes birth defects, showing that for some reason, family members are just not meant to reproduce. It is “dangerous” to the species itself.Animals generally avoid incest. Mating between a mother and her offspring is extremely rare in animals. Some species choose to disperse their offspring to avoid any familial mating, and others live in family groups but do not mate. In some cases though, foxes or elephants for example can mate with family members, though they generally prefer not to.Incest leads to confusion when it comes to social status. Let’s say a man marries his mother. He would become a “son” and a “husband” to his “mother” and “wife”. Their children would be both “children” and “grandchildren” to their “mother/grandmother”. It breaks the rules and roots of the concept of a family, where each one should assume a clear role: parent, child, grandparent etc. It is a representation of dis-order in its crudest form.Incest is socially absurd. When asked “Would you have sex with your mother?” your natural instinct would be to ditch the question as an impossibility, as totally and fundamentally absurd before even asking yourself why. We have been wired, through primary and secondary socialization, to view incest as an impossibility. This is not the way we behave because this is not the way others behave.Most legal and cultural systems have been based on the prohibition of incest as the first rule. Incest has become the bridge between the transformation of nature into culture, and of culture into law.

Do you feel safe living in the United States?

Do I feel safe living in the United States?I feel secure in the knowledge that I can make the right decisions to increase the degree of my safety, in a limited way. Now that may not be the answer that the questioner is seeking.Let’s change this from an abstract question into something we can relate to, a concrete example.Suppose I had to fly to Europe. I would study not just the price of the flight, the per centage of time the flight arrives on time and the shortest route, but also the history of the airline, the history of the plane, all of those things (known knowns) that I could be aware of to increase my probability of being safe. But then there are all the ‘knowns that’ I don’t know. Is the pilot a drunk? Is the co-pilot jealous of the pilot? Is the air traffic controller going to have a nervous breakdown?And what about all those passengers, especially the ones that look so normal? Am I safe being where ‘they are’? And what about that flight of geese that make their appearance just as we begin the take-off? Are they aiming for the turbine blades of the jet engines?Well, I think you see the problem. I can control my safety only within a limited range. Life is a crapshoot. And just like in those old Warner Bros. Cartoons where poor Wile E. Coyote steps outside of the Acme Warehouse, looks both ways, and then gets smushed by the Acme Safe that has dropped from the heavens. Did Mr. Coyote ever account for that possibility?Ah, yes, Deus ex machina, the ultimate unknown unknown.Thanks for reading this.R. Kallao

Do independent, strong women still need to feel safe and protected by a man in a relationship?

They do. Not in a “I’m a child who can’t take care of herself, save me!” kind of way, of course, even though in moments of desperation that might also happen.Protected from what, exactly? Sometimes it can happen that you need to take your dog out to pee and it’s already a bit late, and it’s dark, and your husband comes with you. It’s nice to know that because of his presence the likelihood of being assaulted or catcalled or molested by a stranger is very low. It’s nice to feel protected by not just a random man, but someone who loves you. I made this example, but it could be any situation where a woman might fear for her safety and having a man around is reassuring.Women get often excited by men when they look bigger than them. It feels nice to me knowing that I am sharing my bed with someone who’s taller, bigger, and unless he has some kind of debilitating illness, stronger than me. It’s also nice to be hugged at night by someone like that. It feels safe… if I am with someone I trust. It feels nice to be with someone who’s much stronger than you only when you know that person won’t use the power imbalance to force you to do something you don’t want to do, or to hit your face if you say the wrong thing. That’s why I am using the word “safe”. As someone who has been sexually assaulted multiple times, knowing that next to me there is a man who even though he’s muscular and strong will never, ever, ever use his strenght against me is one of the most beautiful feelings I can experience as a woman who loves men. This doesn’t mean that I am expecting him to protect me from the rest of the world or be some kind of bodyguard, but it’s nice to feel safe and protected enough to just relax in someone else’s arms without wondering if he will suddenly try to strangle me or try to get me to have anal sex while I’d rather not do anything sexual.Doesn’t matter how strong or independent, every woman needs to feel that way. Especially strong and independent women, actually, because women who haven’t already figured out their strenght won’t realize how vital it is for them to be with someone who respects them and that they can put blind trust on. They will constantly find themselves with people who don’t deserve their company or trust, instead.We need to feel safe and protected, but this doesn’t make us any less strong.