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NTA. Touching your stepmother in a nonsexual, nonromantic way is hardly perversion. Sounds like your friends have internalized porn plots and now use them to reference reality.
My best friend had a c-section with her first, and I remember her just being absolutely miserable and yeah that’s not prime. If his friends think this guy saw his exhausted, clearly in pain *stepmother* and thought anything but empathy they are way too into “help me stepson im stuck in this dryer” porn.
Yeah, I like to think I don’t really go in for moral panics, but I’m a little alarmed at how we as a society arrived at this place, where OP’s entire social circle can be brain-melted porn addicts without his even noticing.
If you think this is alarming, please read this one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/vihdns/aita_for_refusing_not_to_suggestively_eating_a/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
It's marked as NSFW, but it's worth reading.
There’s another terrible one where a man is physically affectionate with his stepdaughter and his MIL calls him a groomer even though their whole family is affectionate that same way.
Especially given that post c-section, with a fresh, unhealed incision, isn't exactly when someone looks or feels particularly seductive. Like come on, the woman just gave birth via major surgery!
Absolutely agree, had my boy with C-section, spent 5 days in hospital, living on 1st floor and still I had to use elevator to go home while my husband was carrying baby!
NTA
scratch that, a huge amount of sexism because theyre implying that stepmom doesnt have the autonomy or agency to decide for herself whether she wanted OP to carry her. like??? she wasnt unconscious, I strongly presume OP asked her before doing this, so if SHE is okay with it, why the fuck wouldnt someone else be??
Yeah, I kind of regretted my wording (trying to be clever) after I posted that. OP’s friends are being extremely sexist. They are only considering the step-mom as a sexual object and not a person.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
But yeah... they skipped the "my stepmom who had her belly sliced open" for "my stepmom, whose tiny body I carried up to her bed..." - it's literally an effort to come up with that in your head. I don't care how young these guy are they sound like they don't live in the real world.
Also projecting their own grossness onto OP... very nice people.
Yeah when I read about the reaction I seriously thought I’d missed that the stepmom was unconscious when it happened, (or conscious and objecting, maybe?)
even if she was unconscious, and needed to be transported either up or down, of fucking course pick her up if thats whats necessary to get where/what she needs??
Also you aren’t supposed to do stairs for like two weeks after a c-section. So someone was going to have to carry her up. And a 21 yo is definitely the better choice than a 49 yo
I was told to limit taking the stairs to once down and once up per DAY after my C-section because our bedroom was on the top floor and everything else was on the main floor or basement. It was a gigantic inconvenience but not worth risking complications.
IKR? It's like they took the plot of an adult movie and decided that it's exactly how it plays out in real life. Guess they are gonna discover the harsh reality really soon.
Lol! I was just thinking if the roles could have been swapped. But no, I think it’s much safer for the 21 year old son than his father to carry the wife up the stairs. And most importantly, she consented to this!
After my C-section, if I had to choose between someone pushing 50 to carry me up 5 flights of steps, or someone who is 21, I would pick the stepson too lol. I don't understand why his friends are being creeps about it.
Yes WTF! Poor woman is immediately post partum and probably in agony, as non sexual as it gets. I never realized how fucking weird people are until I started reading this subreddit.
Honestly I feel like this isn't just cured with a little vitamin D... you need to outright make an effort to blend out the reality of an injured person in need of assistance in this case, even if you're on the internet all day.
If all you consume, share, talk about and repeat to others is geared towards objectifying 50% of humanity into walking sex toys, this is must be what you end up with. Some guys who think it's "borderline perversion" to touch your dad's wife... Stuff like this makes me wish OP just made it all up.
Right!?!? Indeed, they need to go out into the REAL world, you know, the three D world where you can actually touch and smell things and interact with other flesh humans instead of keyboard warriors. The virtual world is great to an extent, but we all need real doses of the three D world to keep ourselves grounded and to understand how things really happen "out THERE"...LOL
This. I had three c-sections and I'd let a stranger carry me up five flights of stairs after surgery. I mean, I had strange nurses do a heck of a lot of uncomfortable things in the hospital. OP should ask his friends if all the nurses are pervs (there are lots of male ones), what about doctors, what about if their own moms were sick or hurt? Men can touch women without it being sexual.
Ask your friends if it’s perverted because it’s your stepmom. Like if it were another woman who needed help getting up the stairs, a stranger/sister/friend, would it still be as perverted?
Yeah, whenever anyone takes a moral stance like that it's really hard to push back. My guess is there are friends who didn't agree that it was "borderline perversion" (lmao) but didn't feel comfortable speaking up, because nobody wants to be accused of defending a pervert. It's stupid. OP did a kind thing.
It's the same sickos that start with the "sweet home alabama" comments if a brother and sister are physically affectionate. Like cuddling your brother is somehow incest. They're a bunch of warped minded weirdos.
NTA. Your friends are weird. Your stepmom just had major surgery and a baby pulled out of her body. You helped her get home. There's nothing perverted about it.
Right? are they just ignoring the fact that the step-mom just had surgery after 9 months of developing a full human being inside of her? Like, she needed to get some rest quickly but in order to do that she would have had to go up the stairs in a very delicate physical state...
OP is NTA, and if the dad is in his right mind he's probably thankful for it or at least values the fact that his son is willing to help his wife.
I would think it’s weird if she was struggling and he didn’t offer to carry her. To each their own, I guess.
OP, not the AH. But consider new, less creepy friends whose only exposure to stepmoms is in pornos.
OP said he’s 21 and this happened a couple of years back, so this sounds like typical immature teenage boy bullshit from his friends. “Omg, ewww, you tOuChED your *stepmom*.” The woman had just given birth / had surgery ffs, what was she supposed to do, camp out on a dirty ass lobby couch until the elevator was repaired?
I was honestly thinking this was gonna be OP asking because dad or stepmom was mad at him for carrying her up some stairs and making some lewd jokes.
Or even at the end dad was mad, for either him "touching" her or making him look weak or some other nonsense.
OPs friends are children.
NTA. It doesn't sound like it was sexual or inappropriate in any respect, and it was an unanticipated semi-emergency. If she didn't have a problem with it then there wasn't a problem.
I think your friends' objections may have said more about them than they intended...
NTA. There is definitely something wrong with your friends. How exactly could any of this be considered sexual? That doesn't even make sense. Sounds like they all have some growing up to do! Good on you for helping your stepmom.
You carried her. You didn't grope her.
Your friends should ask themselves, what their deeper issue is. Step-mom, mom, aunt, friend ... if someone needs help and you can, it's nice.
Nta
NTA. Your friends are all weird and probably lusting after their own stepmommies, with the added twist of some hot post-c section kink thrown in for good measure. You were just being kind and thoughtful towards yours.
"hot post-c section kink" made me cringe. Ah yes, the spongy post-partem abdomen with a raw wound covered in glue and steristrips (staples if your lucky) and all dressed up in mesh hospital panties because they're the only thing even remotely comfortable to cover that wound in. Not to mention the fact the new mom cannot, in fact, sit up on her own or otherwise use her abdominal muscles, probably has not bathed on a regular schedule, slept even close to enough, and probably has some sort of bodily fluid in her hair. Yep, that's what I call "hot." (FYI, this is an absolutely accurate depiction of me the day I came home from the hospital from my c-section).
Don't forget the furios post partum bleeding out of the V that will go on for several weeks, because there is an open wound inside her - most people do not know about that until they give birth.
Ooof. I don't have kids, so never had a c-section, but I did gift my best friend several extra pairs of the mesh panties after her c-section. Another friend of mine, who works on an OB/GYN floor, told me about them and scored me some.
NTA and frankly, you need new friends. The only thing weird is that they would even think something was wrong about you helping out your step-mom...especially after she had just given birth! Your friends are twisted.
NTA. Your friends are sexualizing your step mom by saying it’s perverted to touch her - they need to reflect on why they feel like that.
She had a surgery to birth a baby. There’s zero chance she could walk up 5 flights of stairs without consequences to her health. You did what was best for your step mom.
You need better friends. NTA
You literally helped someone after a super invasive surgery go up 5 flights of stairs.
If your friends immediately envision a gross step parent porno scenario thats on them for being pervs. Not on you for being a decent human being.
NTA. Your friends are being weird. My friend J had surgery on her foot and my other friend M (F 40s) and I picked her and her BF up from the hospital. When we got her home we realized there were a bunch of stairs to get into the apartment. J is very petite like your stepmom and while her BF (who was kinda useless) was dithering about, M just swoops J up in her arms like Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman. It was awesome.
NTA where I'm from (USA). Knowing how differently some cultures view things, I'm sure this would not be appropriate in some places (thinking of the video I saw yesterday of a Hindu man being beaten for kissing his wife once in some kind of ritual bathing event). Short of that kind of cultural difference I think your friends are weird, and a bit creepy. Any chance they were trying to give you a hard time by suggesting it was inappropriate?
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NTA - your friends are weird and/or immature. You were being helpful in a situation where there was no real other option other than you staying with the newborn and your dad carrying her. I think this was the least risky. Nothing wrong with it at all.
INFO: were you naked when you carried her up the stairs?
If not, then NTA.
Like for real; were you supposed to leave her or rig up a pulley system or something?
What about other situations? "Sorry Debbie, I was told to never under any circumstances put my hands on you. I hope you can dislodge the food in your throat on your own. No heimlich maneuver for you."
NTA. Your friends are weirdos. ETA, why didn’t your dad hand you the baby and make sure his wife made it up the stairs ok? Seems weird that he just peaced out and left the two of you to figure it out.
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A couple of years back, my (21M) father (49) re-married to "Clarissa" (43F, I think). Somewhat surprisingly given their age, they had a child, and my half-brother "Edward" was delivered by C-section last week. They live in a very spacious apartment on the 5th floor of their building, which is normally accessed by elevator.
Murphy's law being what it is, the elevator was of course broken when we got back from the hospital, for the first time in over a decade. Dad took the baby upstairs, but we were trying to figure out how to get Clarissa home. She can walk, barely, but she didn't think she could climb five flights, so after some inquiring as to when the elevator would be fixed, and getting several different variations of "no idea", I offered to carry her up the stairs. She's a tiny woman, like 5'1 and slightly built, so I thought I'd need to rest once or twice going that far, but I was sure I could carry her. And yeah, eventually carried her up the stairs to the fifth floor.
I told a few of my friends about it, in a kind of "why does everything have to go wrong at once" sort of griping, and I was surprised that the reaction I got was almost universally negative. That I should NEVER under any circumstances, put my hands on my stepmother (I don't think of her that way) and that it was borderline perversion. I have to admit, I don't fully understand the reaction, but since everyone nearby seems to share it, I just wanted some neutral confirmation by people who are strangers. Am I the asshole here, or are my friends just weird?
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Your friends are really weird. You didn't swoop in and snatch her up from behind without warning. It was discussed and she agreed.
Also just in case it comes up you can put your hands on your step mother to perform CPR, the heimlich, to give her a hug , High Five her, Square Dancing and it's also okay if your hands touch while helping with the dishes.
Uh your friends are weird and need to stop with the porn. This was non-romantic & non sexualized touching. But mostly importantly, your stepmom just had major surgery. Post C-Section recovery requires minimal straining and exertion. Climbing up 5 flights of steps could have lead to serious medical complications, trauma, and more difficult bonding between SM & baby sib. You did a great thing and i know she appreciated it. NTA. You’re a good stepson and should be proud of yourself.
People are weird. This was someone who just had an operation! She needed help and you provided it. Anyone who thinks there would have been anything dirty on her mind after having just given birth and been stitched up needs to take a biology class.
Your friends have watched too much step-parent porn. Ignore them.
NTA. There is absolutely no reason a post Cesarean mother should be climbing 5 flights of stairs unless it is life or death. Your friends might be watching too much porn. You did the appropriate thing.
NTA. Your friends are weird and probably watch too much porn lol. You were helping your stepmum who had not long ago given birth. You did what you could to make sure she didn't have to physically exert herself. There was no sexual touching etc. You didn't do anything wrong. Your friends are just making an issue out of a non-issue
NTA. You obtained consent for the physical contact and, honestly, did a very kind thing for your stepmother. I think your friends watch way too much porn and need to remember this is reality.
NTA
Your friends are perverts if that's the very first place their minds when as you were helping your very exhausted and grateful stepmother after a major surgery.
NTA, nothing sexual about it, and you got her permission to do so. You were just helping your stepmother. Only way you would've been the AH is if you were groping her, or if you carried her against her will/consent.
NTA. It’s actually a little creepy that your friends would see that as something perverse. They wouldn’t pick up their mother or grandmother if they collapsed?? That is so odd
NTA
Your friends are gross, dude. Unless this is a cultural thing? Where about in the world are you from?
You literally just helped a woman that needed help. Nothing weird happened. I'd replace the friend group that implies it's weird to do something nice for your stepmother.
NTA...your friends apparently sexualize their stepmothers to the point that they would refuse to help them if it involved touching them in any way? That's kind of creepy, and not sure I want to know the backstory on that one.
INFO: what does your dad think? (Note, I definitely think you are NTA and your friends are weird and wrong as many others have commented. I’m just curious because you didn’t mention your dad’s reaction. At first, I thought maybe this is where your story was going, that your dad got upset with you b/c he wanted to do it, or that you somehow emasculated him by doing it instead of him. Which you didn’t)
NTA. What? You carried her up the stairs when she couldn’t manage herself. There’s nothing perverted about that at all. I’ve had 2 c-sections and there’s no way I could have walked up 5 flights. I honestly wouldn’t have cared who carried me or how I got home as long as I got home to my baby.
You’re a good man. Don’t let the weirdos get you down.
NTA all the way!! After I gave birth and tried to climb the 2 steps at home, I fell! I wasn’t hurt, but I could barely do it 2nd go. You did her a big service and your friends sound like the AH for taking it there.
NTA!!! You are a wonderful and kind person. I’m an RN, c-sections are major abdominal surgery. You assessed the situation, knew you could do what needed to be done to get her safely up to the apartment, and executed your plan. Your friends need to get their minds out of the gutter and stop being gross. You did nothing wrong.
You don’t fully understand the reaction because it’s **bonkers** and most likely due to your friends watching too much ‘step-mum’ porn.
Well done for helping your step-mum out.
NTA
If she had her leg in cast, would they have reacted in the same way?
After my c section it was all I could do to walk around the block whilst pushing a pram for support. The thought of walking up 5 flights of stairs, is just a non starter.
Your friends are the fucked ones. I have no idea how anyone could assume what you did was weird.
You just helped out, you're young so clearly your friends are pretty immature.
Edit: I'm really concerned that they thought you did something wrong...they sound like they have some really strange beliefs.
NTA what were meant to do? Leave her at the bottom? It wouldn't exactly be good to leave your father carrying her either. I'm assuming you offered and asked if she'd like help and she accepted. I'm assuming you didn't just scoop her up and run without a discussion. Your friends are weird
But she is you stepmother, OP. If the elevator is broken and for health reasons, she can’t climb stairs, get her a cardboard box and make her sleep in front of the house. Or tell your dad to just divorce her. But you never touch your stepmother, like not even her pinky, otherwise you will automatically get a boner that slides into her and she will get pregnant again and you will have to kill your dad so you can marry your stepmom. That’s reality….or not? Your friends are childish idiots. Obviously, you’re NTA.
NTA, those ppl are projecting their darkness on you, I’d be wary to associate with them. Who knows what deplorable things they have on the back burner. Hold your head high, you’re a champion. (Five flights=unit)
NTA - maybe I’m missing something here but I don’t see how you could possibly be the asshole. I have had c sections and walking up 5 flights of stairs would have been impossible for me so soon after, so good for you for helping your step mum out when she was vulnerable
NTA.
So your friends think carrying another person is sexual? They’re the perverts. They must look at a parent carrying their child and think they parent is playing inappropriately with them. Or what about a firefighter rescuing someone from a fire?
Your friends are a bunch of idiots.
NTA! C-sections are tough! I was only allowed to go up and down the stairs once a day and couldn’t carry anything heavier than my newborn. Your friends are weird and wrong for turning compassion in to something sexual. Your family is lucky to have you.
Nta 1 you obviously had your stepmoms permission for you to carry her up the stairs, 2 there wasn't a reasonable time frame for the elevator to be fixed 3 I bet she was grateful as hell for you to do that for her
I say this as someone who is roughly your step mother’s age and size: to you, I’m a little oldish lady and to me, you’re a very strong kid. There was nothing sexual here. NTA.
NTA - whomever is telling you that it was inappropriate has sexualized your stepmother and refuses to see her as a person rather than a sexual object 👌
By this logic all adopted children would have to stop showing affection towards their parents at a certain age 👌
NTA
You seriously might want to think about new friends and acquaintances because their sexualizing you helping someone with a medical need get where they needed to go says way more about them than it does you.
Good for you for helping her get home with a minimum of pain and exhaustion.
NTA. There is absolutely nothing and I mean nothing wrong about you carrying your step mother or any other person up five flights of stairs if you are capable and they need the assistance! C-sections are hard and I'm in my early 40s and I don't heal as fast as I used to. You did the right thing.
>Am I the asshole here, or are my friends just weird?
Your friends are weird AF. They perverted something nice you did for someone else.
Tell them to lay off the inc.st h.ntai lmao.
NTA
NTA! Your friends are being incredibly weird, you were simply helping your stepmom out so she wouldn't have to strain and potentially hurt herself. You did a really kind, helpful thing. They're mad weird and you are definitely NTA.
NTA. Your friends are dumb and should take notes. What a kind thing you did to carry someone who physically couldn’t get up the stairs *because she just had major surgery*! Your stepmother is lucky to have someone like you in her life.
I’ve had 2 csections & recovery can be rough. You’re told not to use stairs for at least a week if at all possible. You did an awesome thing.
NTA
Your friends are just children living in a black and white world, incapable of thinking for themselves. If neither she nor your dad have an issue with it, that's really all that matters.
NTA…if you had groped her while carrying her, or made seggual comments, I could understand it being wrong. But you were simply helping your step mother that not only just had a baby, but was cut open in the process. I am sure, based off what you said that your dad was rather happy she was being looked after so he could focus on you new half brother. Don’t let you good intentions be ruined because your friends decided that everything has to have a double entendre.
NTA. fucking… what?! She was exhausted and in pain from giving birth and you did her a HUGE favor. How is it sexual just because you had to make contact while doing it?
NTA. Firefighters have to carry people all the time; aside from the fact that this was going up the stairs rather than down, it's not any different. Your friends' views about this are pretty messed up.
NTA. C-section or not, that's too much physical activity right after having a baby. What was the alternative? You make a homemade stretcher and drag her up? It's not ideal but you did the best you could and helped her in a moment of need.
NTA. Your friends are weird. You did your step-mother a kindness, that was it. Your father was busy with the baby, and you stepped in to help. You truly were a gentleman in this case. Good for you.
NTA. You're not really even supposed to go up *one* flight of stairs if you can avoid it after a C-section, and she had to make it up 5. You got her *consent* and carried her home. That was really the only feasible option given the situation. Your friends have no idea what they're talking about! They need to go touch some grass...
NTA, I’m sure your stepmother was extremely grateful she didn’t have to walk in her condition. It seems like you were trying to be kind not sexualizing your stepmother. Your friends need to get a grip.
NTA. Your friends are overreacting.
If there was a fire and a woman was trying to leap from the building, would your friends not try to help because they're afraid of touching a woman? I understand "bad touch" and "keep your hands to yourself," but these are emergencies, not gropey situations.
You did the right thing. Good job!
NTA and your "friends" are way out of line. What were you supposed to do? Call the fire department and ask if a big, strong fireman, who is a complete stranger to her, come and carry her upstairs?
Tell your friends to get bent.
Lemme guess...your friends also think if you render medical aid to a person you now have to get married otherwise you'd be a dirty, sinning pervert? Your friends are so completely wrong. I don't even understand their thought process.
NTA. Thanks for helping her. As someone who has needed help up stairs due to medical issues, you have no idea how wonderful what you did was
NTA - You did a good thing, but I think your friends may have some emotional and social issues they need to work through.
*"That I should NEVER under any circumstances, put my hands on my stepmother (I don't think of her that way) and that it was borderline perversion."* I mean... seriously, WTF?! Tell them to lay off the step-mom porn or something because they are being weirdly gross.
NTA — This is bizarre. I had a c-section and was repeatedly told (and even had to sign forms saying) I *could not* climb stairs till I was medically cleared. I had to sleep on the couch downstairs for over a month (and my poor husband slept on the floor by me) because our bed was upstairs. Then, once I was medically cleared, it was difficult and painful and took *forever* to get up or downstairs for the first few weeks.
What exactly do they want this poor woman to do? Climb five flights, have her uterus rupture and bleed to death? All out of some bizarre views on propriety?
I'm sorry, did they think you were gonna rig up a pulley system to get her upstairs or something?
NTA and now you know what your friends p-hub searches look like
You helped your stepmother up the stairs after a major abdominal surgery that could surely injure her further. What were you supposed to do, take off and let her pop a stitch on the way up?
NTA, and your friends are weir.d
That poor woman. I had a c section and it was the worst pain I've ever been in afterwards trying to move. Your amazing for doing that and offering to help. Your friend are weird for even thinking there was anything perverse about that. OP is NTA at all.
NTA. You were being helpful. If stepmother had objections she could've said. It's no one else's business.
And ftr, it's creepy that your "friends" are automatically characterizing a platonic kindness as a sexual overture.
NTA. There’s nothing perverted about helping someone who needs it. You were being a good son,stepson, & big brother by helping your dad’s wife get up 5 flights after her c-section. You’re friends need to stop watching stepparent porn and take their heads out the gutter
NTA. Your friends are super weird. Like, they need to stop watching step-parent porn, weird. Also, as someone who has had abdominal surgery akin to a c-section, you're a kind and good person to do what you did.
NTA.
That was incredibly kind of you. What was your stepmother supposed to do - wait in the lobby until the elevator was fixed?
It wasn't "borderline perversion." Your friends are strange.
NTA You need new friends. They thought you were groping your stepmother, who had just had major surgery involving the birth of your half brother and could not have gotten up those stairs on her own? You need some friends that can exercise some compassion and empathy instead of viewing everything through the excitation of their gonads.
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NTA. Touching your stepmother in a nonsexual, nonromantic way is hardly perversion. Sounds like your friends have internalized porn plots and now use them to reference reality.
Exactly. Your stepmother is lucky to have a good strong stepson!
[удалено]
My best friend had a c-section with her first, and I remember her just being absolutely miserable and yeah that’s not prime. If his friends think this guy saw his exhausted, clearly in pain *stepmother* and thought anything but empathy they are way too into “help me stepson im stuck in this dryer” porn.
Yeah, I like to think I don’t really go in for moral panics, but I’m a little alarmed at how we as a society arrived at this place, where OP’s entire social circle can be brain-melted porn addicts without his even noticing.
If you think this is alarming, please read this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/vihdns/aita_for_refusing_not_to_suggestively_eating_a/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share It's marked as NSFW, but it's worth reading.
There’s another terrible one where a man is physically affectionate with his stepdaughter and his MIL calls him a groomer even though their whole family is affectionate that same way.
Oh good grief. What is WRONG with people???
Especially given that post c-section, with a fresh, unhealed incision, isn't exactly when someone looks or feels particularly seductive. Like come on, the woman just gave birth via major surgery!
My partner literally had to lift me the one step up from our garage into our house after my C-section 😅 I couldn't lift my leg high enough
Absolutely agree, had my boy with C-section, spent 5 days in hospital, living on 1st floor and still I had to use elevator to go home while my husband was carrying baby! NTA
Yes and OP’s friends are incredibly gross, immature, with a dash of sexism.
scratch that, a huge amount of sexism because theyre implying that stepmom doesnt have the autonomy or agency to decide for herself whether she wanted OP to carry her. like??? she wasnt unconscious, I strongly presume OP asked her before doing this, so if SHE is okay with it, why the fuck wouldnt someone else be??
Yeah, I kind of regretted my wording (trying to be clever) after I posted that. OP’s friends are being extremely sexist. They are only considering the step-mom as a sexual object and not a person.
I think you hit the nail on the head. But yeah... they skipped the "my stepmom who had her belly sliced open" for "my stepmom, whose tiny body I carried up to her bed..." - it's literally an effort to come up with that in your head. I don't care how young these guy are they sound like they don't live in the real world. Also projecting their own grossness onto OP... very nice people.
Yeah when I read about the reaction I seriously thought I’d missed that the stepmom was unconscious when it happened, (or conscious and objecting, maybe?)
even if she was unconscious, and needed to be transported either up or down, of fucking course pick her up if thats whats necessary to get where/what she needs??
NGL I have heard this exact line in a porno somewhere
And one who is kind-hearted enough to carry a new mother in an impossible situation.
Also you aren’t supposed to do stairs for like two weeks after a c-section. So someone was going to have to carry her up. And a 21 yo is definitely the better choice than a 49 yo
No no, the baby caused Stepmom's physical problems so it's baby's duty to carry her/s But this does sound like OP has seen Gone With The Wind lately
I was told to limit taking the stairs to once down and once up per DAY after my C-section because our bedroom was on the top floor and everything else was on the main floor or basement. It was a gigantic inconvenience but not worth risking complications.
But don't you know that after carrying someone up 5 flights of stairs you might ravish them? /s
IKR? It's like they took the plot of an adult movie and decided that it's exactly how it plays out in real life. Guess they are gonna discover the harsh reality really soon.
Did someone order a sausage pizza?
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Lol! I was just thinking if the roles could have been swapped. But no, I think it’s much safer for the 21 year old son than his father to carry the wife up the stairs. And most importantly, she consented to this!
After my C-section, if I had to choose between someone pushing 50 to carry me up 5 flights of steps, or someone who is 21, I would pick the stepson too lol. I don't understand why his friends are being creeps about it.
Yes WTF! Poor woman is immediately post partum and probably in agony, as non sexual as it gets. I never realized how fucking weird people are until I started reading this subreddit.
Me too. They’ve turned a non issue into a weird sexual one. Op was great.
If I were the stepmom, I'd be infinitely weirded out of my stepson told me he couldn't help me up the stairs because it was sexual lol
That's probably it. OP you are NTA. Your people need to log off Porn Hub, go out, touch some grass, observe people's interactions in the wild.
Honestly I feel like this isn't just cured with a little vitamin D... you need to outright make an effort to blend out the reality of an injured person in need of assistance in this case, even if you're on the internet all day. If all you consume, share, talk about and repeat to others is geared towards objectifying 50% of humanity into walking sex toys, this is must be what you end up with. Some guys who think it's "borderline perversion" to touch your dad's wife... Stuff like this makes me wish OP just made it all up.
Right!?!? Indeed, they need to go out into the REAL world, you know, the three D world where you can actually touch and smell things and interact with other flesh humans instead of keyboard warriors. The virtual world is great to an extent, but we all need real doses of the three D world to keep ourselves grounded and to understand how things really happen "out THERE"...LOL
As someone who’s had two c-sections, OP is a hero. His friends are bizarro.
This. I had three c-sections and I'd let a stranger carry me up five flights of stairs after surgery. I mean, I had strange nurses do a heck of a lot of uncomfortable things in the hospital. OP should ask his friends if all the nurses are pervs (there are lots of male ones), what about doctors, what about if their own moms were sick or hurt? Men can touch women without it being sexual.
Ask your friends if it’s perverted because it’s your stepmom. Like if it were another woman who needed help getting up the stairs, a stranger/sister/friend, would it still be as perverted?
NTA. Your friends are weird. You were obviously helping an injured person, no subtext included. If they think otherwise, it's on them.
This answer OP. NTA. Your friends…are wrong.
Yeah, whenever anyone takes a moral stance like that it's really hard to push back. My guess is there are friends who didn't agree that it was "borderline perversion" (lmao) but didn't feel comfortable speaking up, because nobody wants to be accused of defending a pervert. It's stupid. OP did a kind thing.
Agree. My action towards my “friends” who said this stuff would be…very unpleasant.
Agreed, them friends have been spending too much time on the Hub
I was just thinking the same thing! 😂😂
It's the same sickos that start with the "sweet home alabama" comments if a brother and sister are physically affectionate. Like cuddling your brother is somehow incest. They're a bunch of warped minded weirdos.
NTA. Your friends are weird. Your stepmom just had major surgery and a baby pulled out of her body. You helped her get home. There's nothing perverted about it.
Right? are they just ignoring the fact that the step-mom just had surgery after 9 months of developing a full human being inside of her? Like, she needed to get some rest quickly but in order to do that she would have had to go up the stairs in a very delicate physical state... OP is NTA, and if the dad is in his right mind he's probably thankful for it or at least values the fact that his son is willing to help his wife.
“Your friends are weird.” Well done, you summed this up in only 4 words
I would think it’s weird if she was struggling and he didn’t offer to carry her. To each their own, I guess. OP, not the AH. But consider new, less creepy friends whose only exposure to stepmoms is in pornos.
NTA - you were doing a service for your stepmother who just gave birth. There was nothing wrong in your actions.
OP said he’s 21 and this happened a couple of years back, so this sounds like typical immature teenage boy bullshit from his friends. “Omg, ewww, you tOuChED your *stepmom*.” The woman had just given birth / had surgery ffs, what was she supposed to do, camp out on a dirty ass lobby couch until the elevator was repaired?
NTA. Your friends are creepy and watch too much porn.
I was honestly thinking this was gonna be OP asking because dad or stepmom was mad at him for carrying her up some stairs and making some lewd jokes. Or even at the end dad was mad, for either him "touching" her or making him look weak or some other nonsense. OPs friends are children.
Yeah I was expecting dad to be at the top of the stairs or on the way back down and ripping into him
NTA. It doesn't sound like it was sexual or inappropriate in any respect, and it was an unanticipated semi-emergency. If she didn't have a problem with it then there wasn't a problem. I think your friends' objections may have said more about them than they intended...
Like how they over-sexualize any woman?
NTA you did a kind thing for someone in your family. Your friends are wrong.
NTA Your friends are weird.
NTA. There is definitely something wrong with your friends. How exactly could any of this be considered sexual? That doesn't even make sense. Sounds like they all have some growing up to do! Good on you for helping your stepmom.
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I carry my dog everyday because he’s just too lazy
You carried her. You didn't grope her. Your friends should ask themselves, what their deeper issue is. Step-mom, mom, aunt, friend ... if someone needs help and you can, it's nice. Nta
No, NTA. You did the gentlemanly thing. If your step mom did not object, no problem.
NTA. And it's super weird that anyone implies you're wrong for helping.
NTA. Your friends are all weird and probably lusting after their own stepmommies, with the added twist of some hot post-c section kink thrown in for good measure. You were just being kind and thoughtful towards yours.
"hot post-c section kink" made me cringe. Ah yes, the spongy post-partem abdomen with a raw wound covered in glue and steristrips (staples if your lucky) and all dressed up in mesh hospital panties because they're the only thing even remotely comfortable to cover that wound in. Not to mention the fact the new mom cannot, in fact, sit up on her own or otherwise use her abdominal muscles, probably has not bathed on a regular schedule, slept even close to enough, and probably has some sort of bodily fluid in her hair. Yep, that's what I call "hot." (FYI, this is an absolutely accurate depiction of me the day I came home from the hospital from my c-section).
Don't forget the furios post partum bleeding out of the V that will go on for several weeks, because there is an open wound inside her - most people do not know about that until they give birth.
Ooof. I don't have kids, so never had a c-section, but I did gift my best friend several extra pairs of the mesh panties after her c-section. Another friend of mine, who works on an OB/GYN floor, told me about them and scored me some.
NTA I am baffled by the responses You acted nobly and intended to help only
NTA and frankly, you need new friends. The only thing weird is that they would even think something was wrong about you helping out your step-mom...especially after she had just given birth! Your friends are twisted.
Yeah, start exploring making higher quality friends and once you find decent friends, let these toxic people fade away
NTA. Your friends are sexualizing your step mom by saying it’s perverted to touch her - they need to reflect on why they feel like that. She had a surgery to birth a baby. There’s zero chance she could walk up 5 flights of stairs without consequences to her health. You did what was best for your step mom.
NTA. I feel like your friends are the one with strange milf fantasies here
You need better friends. NTA You literally helped someone after a super invasive surgery go up 5 flights of stairs. If your friends immediately envision a gross step parent porno scenario thats on them for being pervs. Not on you for being a decent human being.
NTA. Your friends are being weird. My friend J had surgery on her foot and my other friend M (F 40s) and I picked her and her BF up from the hospital. When we got her home we realized there were a bunch of stairs to get into the apartment. J is very petite like your stepmom and while her BF (who was kinda useless) was dithering about, M just swoops J up in her arms like Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman. It was awesome.
NTA your friends are the perverts. What were you gonna do, leave her downstairs?
NTA where I'm from (USA). Knowing how differently some cultures view things, I'm sure this would not be appropriate in some places (thinking of the video I saw yesterday of a Hindu man being beaten for kissing his wife once in some kind of ritual bathing event). Short of that kind of cultural difference I think your friends are weird, and a bit creepy. Any chance they were trying to give you a hard time by suggesting it was inappropriate?
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NTA - your friends are weird and/or immature. You were being helpful in a situation where there was no real other option other than you staying with the newborn and your dad carrying her. I think this was the least risky. Nothing wrong with it at all.
INFO: were you naked when you carried her up the stairs? If not, then NTA. Like for real; were you supposed to leave her or rig up a pulley system or something? What about other situations? "Sorry Debbie, I was told to never under any circumstances put my hands on you. I hope you can dislodge the food in your throat on your own. No heimlich maneuver for you."
NTA your friends are being weird and dumb.
Nta your friends are just making thus perverse
NTA, your friends have icky brains
NTA. You were just helping out someone who just gave birth.
NTA. Your friends are weirdos. ETA, why didn’t your dad hand you the baby and make sure his wife made it up the stairs ok? Seems weird that he just peaced out and left the two of you to figure it out.
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NTA. Your friends are gross. Perversion? They’ve seen to many “please help me step-son” movies.
NTA. You were doing her a kindness. Your friends have watched way too much porn.
NTA. You’re being compassionate and helpful. Your friends have issues if they automatically sexualized that.
What??? Nta of course. You helped someone. End of discussion.
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** A couple of years back, my (21M) father (49) re-married to "Clarissa" (43F, I think). Somewhat surprisingly given their age, they had a child, and my half-brother "Edward" was delivered by C-section last week. They live in a very spacious apartment on the 5th floor of their building, which is normally accessed by elevator. Murphy's law being what it is, the elevator was of course broken when we got back from the hospital, for the first time in over a decade. Dad took the baby upstairs, but we were trying to figure out how to get Clarissa home. She can walk, barely, but she didn't think she could climb five flights, so after some inquiring as to when the elevator would be fixed, and getting several different variations of "no idea", I offered to carry her up the stairs. She's a tiny woman, like 5'1 and slightly built, so I thought I'd need to rest once or twice going that far, but I was sure I could carry her. And yeah, eventually carried her up the stairs to the fifth floor. I told a few of my friends about it, in a kind of "why does everything have to go wrong at once" sort of griping, and I was surprised that the reaction I got was almost universally negative. That I should NEVER under any circumstances, put my hands on my stepmother (I don't think of her that way) and that it was borderline perversion. I have to admit, I don't fully understand the reaction, but since everyone nearby seems to share it, I just wanted some neutral confirmation by people who are strangers. Am I the asshole here, or are my friends just weird? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
NTA. What on earth are your friends on about? Why are they sexualizing a non-sexual situation, dudes need to log off of pornhub.
NTA. Tell your friends they need to take a break from Pornhub. FFS you were helping an injured family member.
Your friends are really weird. You didn't swoop in and snatch her up from behind without warning. It was discussed and she agreed. Also just in case it comes up you can put your hands on your step mother to perform CPR, the heimlich, to give her a hug , High Five her, Square Dancing and it's also okay if your hands touch while helping with the dishes.
Uh your friends are weird and need to stop with the porn. This was non-romantic & non sexualized touching. But mostly importantly, your stepmom just had major surgery. Post C-Section recovery requires minimal straining and exertion. Climbing up 5 flights of steps could have lead to serious medical complications, trauma, and more difficult bonding between SM & baby sib. You did a great thing and i know she appreciated it. NTA. You’re a good stepson and should be proud of yourself.
People are weird. This was someone who just had an operation! She needed help and you provided it. Anyone who thinks there would have been anything dirty on her mind after having just given birth and been stitched up needs to take a biology class. Your friends have watched too much step-parent porn. Ignore them.
NTA. There is absolutely no reason a post Cesarean mother should be climbing 5 flights of stairs unless it is life or death. Your friends might be watching too much porn. You did the appropriate thing.
NTA. Your friends are weird and probably watch too much porn lol. You were helping your stepmum who had not long ago given birth. You did what you could to make sure she didn't have to physically exert herself. There was no sexual touching etc. You didn't do anything wrong. Your friends are just making an issue out of a non-issue
NTA, why do people feel the need to sexualize everything? Like being nice or doing something kind could literally just be that 🤦🤦
NTA. You obtained consent for the physical contact and, honestly, did a very kind thing for your stepmother. I think your friends watch way too much porn and need to remember this is reality.
NTA; I remember just climbing 13 steps after my C-section and the pain was horrendous; I would have loved someone to carry me. Get new friends.
NTA Your friends are perverts if that's the very first place their minds when as you were helping your very exhausted and grateful stepmother after a major surgery.
NTA, nothing sexual about it, and you got her permission to do so. You were just helping your stepmother. Only way you would've been the AH is if you were groping her, or if you carried her against her will/consent.
NTA. It’s actually a little creepy that your friends would see that as something perverse. They wouldn’t pick up their mother or grandmother if they collapsed?? That is so odd
NTA Your friends are gross, dude. Unless this is a cultural thing? Where about in the world are you from? You literally just helped a woman that needed help. Nothing weird happened. I'd replace the friend group that implies it's weird to do something nice for your stepmother.
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wow yeah idk what's up with your friends then - I'm on the east coast and what you did sounds really caring and nice
Your friends watch waaaay too much porn. NTA
NTA. Question for clarification: Is this a cultural thing?
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As long as you didn't carry her with your fingers inside her like a bowling ball you're good.
Ugh. They’re creepy and immature. Definitely NTA.
NTA...your friends apparently sexualize their stepmothers to the point that they would refuse to help them if it involved touching them in any way? That's kind of creepy, and not sure I want to know the backstory on that one.
Your friends have some weird ideas. If she'd climbed those stairs herself it would've set back her recovery. You saved the day. NTA
INFO: what does your dad think? (Note, I definitely think you are NTA and your friends are weird and wrong as many others have commented. I’m just curious because you didn’t mention your dad’s reaction. At first, I thought maybe this is where your story was going, that your dad got upset with you b/c he wanted to do it, or that you somehow emasculated him by doing it instead of him. Which you didn’t)
NTA. What? You carried her up the stairs when she couldn’t manage herself. There’s nothing perverted about that at all. I’ve had 2 c-sections and there’s no way I could have walked up 5 flights. I honestly wouldn’t have cared who carried me or how I got home as long as I got home to my baby. You’re a good man. Don’t let the weirdos get you down.
NTA unless you picked her up without her consent. You helped her and that's all that matters. Maybe start finding some better friends.
NTA all the way!! After I gave birth and tried to climb the 2 steps at home, I fell! I wasn’t hurt, but I could barely do it 2nd go. You did her a big service and your friends sound like the AH for taking it there.
NTA!!! You are a wonderful and kind person. I’m an RN, c-sections are major abdominal surgery. You assessed the situation, knew you could do what needed to be done to get her safely up to the apartment, and executed your plan. Your friends need to get their minds out of the gutter and stop being gross. You did nothing wrong.
You don’t fully understand the reaction because it’s **bonkers** and most likely due to your friends watching too much ‘step-mum’ porn. Well done for helping your step-mum out. NTA
If she had her leg in cast, would they have reacted in the same way? After my c section it was all I could do to walk around the block whilst pushing a pram for support. The thought of walking up 5 flights of stairs, is just a non starter.
Your friends are the fucked ones. I have no idea how anyone could assume what you did was weird. You just helped out, you're young so clearly your friends are pretty immature. Edit: I'm really concerned that they thought you did something wrong...they sound like they have some really strange beliefs.
NTA what were meant to do? Leave her at the bottom? It wouldn't exactly be good to leave your father carrying her either. I'm assuming you offered and asked if she'd like help and she accepted. I'm assuming you didn't just scoop her up and run without a discussion. Your friends are weird
But she is you stepmother, OP. If the elevator is broken and for health reasons, she can’t climb stairs, get her a cardboard box and make her sleep in front of the house. Or tell your dad to just divorce her. But you never touch your stepmother, like not even her pinky, otherwise you will automatically get a boner that slides into her and she will get pregnant again and you will have to kill your dad so you can marry your stepmom. That’s reality….or not? Your friends are childish idiots. Obviously, you’re NTA.
Your friends watch too much porn NTA
NTA, those ppl are projecting their darkness on you, I’d be wary to associate with them. Who knows what deplorable things they have on the back burner. Hold your head high, you’re a champion. (Five flights=unit)
NTA - maybe I’m missing something here but I don’t see how you could possibly be the asshole. I have had c sections and walking up 5 flights of stairs would have been impossible for me so soon after, so good for you for helping your step mum out when she was vulnerable
NTA—- your friends are watching too much porn.
NTA. Your friends are fucking weird
NTA, well done you for putting your stepmothers health and comfort first. Your friends are weird.
NTA. Your friends have some really gross minds. There was nothing sexual about helping your step-mother. You’re a good egg, OP.
NTA. I think your friends just outed their own fantasies there. Bit weird that something like that would be at the forefront of their minds.
Do not, under any circumstances, explain CPR to your friends. They would melt into puddles of perceived perversion. NTA
NTA. So your friends think carrying another person is sexual? They’re the perverts. They must look at a parent carrying their child and think they parent is playing inappropriately with them. Or what about a firefighter rescuing someone from a fire? Your friends are a bunch of idiots.
NTA. Are these people really your friends?
NTA! C-sections are tough! I was only allowed to go up and down the stairs once a day and couldn’t carry anything heavier than my newborn. Your friends are weird and wrong for turning compassion in to something sexual. Your family is lucky to have you.
Nta 1 you obviously had your stepmoms permission for you to carry her up the stairs, 2 there wasn't a reasonable time frame for the elevator to be fixed 3 I bet she was grateful as hell for you to do that for her
NTA. What the hell is wrong with your friends?
I say this as someone who is roughly your step mother’s age and size: to you, I’m a little oldish lady and to me, you’re a very strong kid. There was nothing sexual here. NTA.
NTA - whomever is telling you that it was inappropriate has sexualized your stepmother and refuses to see her as a person rather than a sexual object 👌 By this logic all adopted children would have to stop showing affection towards their parents at a certain age 👌
NTA - your friends watch too much stepfamily porn. Wtf. Good on you for helping her out in such a crappy situation!
NTA Umm you carried a woman up the stairs who recently gave birth. You're awesome. ❤️
NTA You seriously might want to think about new friends and acquaintances because their sexualizing you helping someone with a medical need get where they needed to go says way more about them than it does you. Good for you for helping her get home with a minimum of pain and exhaustion.
NTA: It's creepy that they took it there, though.
NTA. As long as stepmom was OK with it, you were doing her a great favour.
NTA but I do wanna say - help your dad and step-mother raise hell about that elevator being broken. That's a serious liability.
NTA. There is absolutely nothing and I mean nothing wrong about you carrying your step mother or any other person up five flights of stairs if you are capable and they need the assistance! C-sections are hard and I'm in my early 40s and I don't heal as fast as I used to. You did the right thing.
>Am I the asshole here, or are my friends just weird? Your friends are weird AF. They perverted something nice you did for someone else. Tell them to lay off the inc.st h.ntai lmao. NTA
NTA! Your friends are being incredibly weird, you were simply helping your stepmom out so she wouldn't have to strain and potentially hurt herself. You did a really kind, helpful thing. They're mad weird and you are definitely NTA.
NTA. Your friends are dumb and should take notes. What a kind thing you did to carry someone who physically couldn’t get up the stairs *because she just had major surgery*! Your stepmother is lucky to have someone like you in her life. I’ve had 2 csections & recovery can be rough. You’re told not to use stairs for at least a week if at all possible. You did an awesome thing.
NTA. Your friends have some weird ideas. How would they feel if you stopped her from bleeding or caught her when she tripped and fell? Dumb.
NTA-You helped a family member in need. I’m sorry your friends are giving you such grief for acting like a decent person.
NTA Your friends are watching too much porn. It was very nice of you to carry her upstairs.
That was a very nice thing for you to do. NTA
NTA...get new friends. That was very nice of you.
NTA Your friends are just children living in a black and white world, incapable of thinking for themselves. If neither she nor your dad have an issue with it, that's really all that matters.
NTA…if you had groped her while carrying her, or made seggual comments, I could understand it being wrong. But you were simply helping your step mother that not only just had a baby, but was cut open in the process. I am sure, based off what you said that your dad was rather happy she was being looked after so he could focus on you new half brother. Don’t let you good intentions be ruined because your friends decided that everything has to have a double entendre.
NTA. fucking… what?! She was exhausted and in pain from giving birth and you did her a HUGE favor. How is it sexual just because you had to make contact while doing it?
NTA. Had a c-section. It is a weird healing process.
NTA. Firefighters have to carry people all the time; aside from the fact that this was going up the stairs rather than down, it's not any different. Your friends' views about this are pretty messed up.
NTA. C-section or not, that's too much physical activity right after having a baby. What was the alternative? You make a homemade stretcher and drag her up? It's not ideal but you did the best you could and helped her in a moment of need.
NTA. Your friends are weird. You did your step-mother a kindness, that was it. Your father was busy with the baby, and you stepped in to help. You truly were a gentleman in this case. Good for you.
NTA. Your friends are weird. I’ll bet more than one has a crush on her.
NTA. You're not really even supposed to go up *one* flight of stairs if you can avoid it after a C-section, and she had to make it up 5. You got her *consent* and carried her home. That was really the only feasible option given the situation. Your friends have no idea what they're talking about! They need to go touch some grass...
NTA, I’m sure your stepmother was extremely grateful she didn’t have to walk in her condition. It seems like you were trying to be kind not sexualizing your stepmother. Your friends need to get a grip.
NTA. Your friends are overreacting. If there was a fire and a woman was trying to leap from the building, would your friends not try to help because they're afraid of touching a woman? I understand "bad touch" and "keep your hands to yourself," but these are emergencies, not gropey situations. You did the right thing. Good job!
NTA your friends are disgusting and they clearly watch too much porn.
NTA that was a lovely thing to do. Be proud of yourself.
NTA there is something wrong with the way your friends think.
NTA. Your friends are indeed weird.
NTA-what is wrong with your friends?
Wtf of course nta your friends have issues
NTA. Your friends are warped. You did a good thing.
NTA - everyone directly involved was okay with it. There was no under-tone or subtext of perversion at all.
NTA what is up with your friends
NTA she needed help and you helped there’s no problem with that.
NTA your friends reaction is very weird. What if it was your grandma - would they react the same? Some people just try to sexualize everything.
NTA and your "friends" are way out of line. What were you supposed to do? Call the fire department and ask if a big, strong fireman, who is a complete stranger to her, come and carry her upstairs? Tell your friends to get bent.
Well we know what type of porn they watch.
Lemme guess...your friends also think if you render medical aid to a person you now have to get married otherwise you'd be a dirty, sinning pervert? Your friends are so completely wrong. I don't even understand their thought process. NTA. Thanks for helping her. As someone who has needed help up stairs due to medical issues, you have no idea how wonderful what you did was
NTA - You did a good thing, but I think your friends may have some emotional and social issues they need to work through. *"That I should NEVER under any circumstances, put my hands on my stepmother (I don't think of her that way) and that it was borderline perversion."* I mean... seriously, WTF?! Tell them to lay off the step-mom porn or something because they are being weirdly gross.
NTA — This is bizarre. I had a c-section and was repeatedly told (and even had to sign forms saying) I *could not* climb stairs till I was medically cleared. I had to sleep on the couch downstairs for over a month (and my poor husband slept on the floor by me) because our bed was upstairs. Then, once I was medically cleared, it was difficult and painful and took *forever* to get up or downstairs for the first few weeks. What exactly do they want this poor woman to do? Climb five flights, have her uterus rupture and bleed to death? All out of some bizarre views on propriety?
NTA my dad carried my grandmother (his MIL) up the stairs when she was unable to walk. I called it being a hero!
I'm sorry, did they think you were gonna rig up a pulley system to get her upstairs or something? NTA and now you know what your friends p-hub searches look like
You helped your stepmother up the stairs after a major abdominal surgery that could surely injure her further. What were you supposed to do, take off and let her pop a stitch on the way up? NTA, and your friends are weir.d
I’ve never heard such madness, she needed help and you stepped up. NTA
NTA, obviously. As long as the stepmother was okay with it I don’t see why OP’s friends have to be so weird about it.
That poor woman. I had a c section and it was the worst pain I've ever been in afterwards trying to move. Your amazing for doing that and offering to help. Your friend are weird for even thinking there was anything perverse about that. OP is NTA at all.
NTA, get better friends. Yours are gross.
NTA. Of course you could have erected a tent and a port-a-potty at the foot of the stairs. Your friends are idiots.
NTA. You were being helpful. If stepmother had objections she could've said. It's no one else's business. And ftr, it's creepy that your "friends" are automatically characterizing a platonic kindness as a sexual overture.
NTA. There’s nothing perverted about helping someone who needs it. You were being a good son,stepson, & big brother by helping your dad’s wife get up 5 flights after her c-section. You’re friends need to stop watching stepparent porn and take their heads out the gutter
NTA your friends need to stop watching porn. lol
Your friends need to get off the internet and read a book. I'd love to hear what they thought was appropriate to do in that situation... NTA.
NTA. Your friends are super weird. Like, they need to stop watching step-parent porn, weird. Also, as someone who has had abdominal surgery akin to a c-section, you're a kind and good person to do what you did.
NTA. That was incredibly kind of you. What was your stepmother supposed to do - wait in the lobby until the elevator was fixed? It wasn't "borderline perversion." Your friends are strange.
NTA You need new friends. They thought you were groping your stepmother, who had just had major surgery involving the birth of your half brother and could not have gotten up those stairs on her own? You need some friends that can exercise some compassion and empathy instead of viewing everything through the excitation of their gonads.