“Where my hug at?” “Showering?…Without me?” “Need a ride?” There are countless quotes just like these, unofficially branded as the trademark conversation starters or pickup lines of an upcoming (or maybe resurfaced?) term that’s been rising in relevance: the super senior.
“Wow, Mr. Evan, you are simply the best. You sound super knowledgeable about this. What exactly is a super senior?” Well, according to thoughtco.com, a super senior was originally coined and could be predated as far back as the seventeenth century, initially meaning that the described student was in their fourth year of high school. Modernly, it most commonly refers to a college student who stays for five or more years, often due to academic mishaps. Most recently, however, the super senior nickname has devolved into slang that indicates that the inquired person is a pedophile, a depraved character obsessed with younger students(or more specifically, freshmen).
This new definition was likely spread through the same method as all popular trends nowadays, social media. I speculate that the meme can be traced back to an alternate version of the anime character Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen. In these satirical videos self-animated by the YouTuber sinisterbart, the character dubbed “Super Senior Gojo” is a predatory and perverted version obsessed with younger students. A depraved, sociopathic, and perverted version of Satoru Gojo, the fan-created character is obsessed with “freshman year students” and is often depicted hunting them down.
Now, why is this important? It’s because I believe that it should go without saying that these scenarios are wrong, unethical, and illicit. An eighteen or nineteen-year-old shouldn’t be able to date a fourteen or fifteen-year-old, no matter the circumstance. “Wow, Mr. Chung, so I really can’t date the love of my life when they’re just 4 years younger than me? But what about the rich corporate billionaires with wives 20 years younger than them? After all, technically speaking, in California, an 18-year-old can date a 14-year-old as long as there is no explicit activity involved.” Though you provide a good point, puberty typically finishes between the ages of 15 and 17 for girls and 16 and 17 for boys. A fully matured, blossomed adult shouldn’t be allowed to date any minors, let alone their innocent underclassman! In conclusion, seniors dating freshmen revolves around a cluster of significant differences in emotional maturity, life stages, and potential legal issues, and it shouldn’t be allowed or tolerated in modern society.
