As a child I was groomed by a man in my village and I see a lot of similarities between the way bj and my groomer acted. Do you guys think bojack intended to do something with penny for what ever reason and groomed her? ( reminds her of Charlotte at an early age/ makes it feel like he’s back in his youth?) or was it an opportunity taken impulsively?
I don’t think he was ever working towards a goal of having sex with Penny. I really don’t think that’s what he wanted to happen… right up until he left the door open.
However, unintendedly his behaviour DID effectively groom her. Basically all the grooming check boxes are ticked.
So yes, I think Bojack did groom Penny but I don’t think at any point that he was doing so on purpose or that any of his actions up to leaving the door open were motivated by a desire to sleep with her.
The dictionary definition of grooming has intent ingrained in it: “to build a trusting relationship with (a minor) in order to exploit them especially for nonconsensual sexual activity.”
…not that this changes the effect his bad decisions had on everyone.
Yes, I guess a more accurate conclusion would be that whilst Bojack never intended to groom Penny his actions exhibited the characteristics of grooming and thus had the same effect on her that grooming would have.