Few people are more convinced of their chances of being sex trafficked than white middle-class American women while simultaneously being one of the groups least likely to fall victim to sex trafficking. And movies like 2023’s Sound of Freedom didn’t help quell their paranoia about their chances of being kidnapped from a Walmart parking lot.

@drlesliedobson #groceryshopping #shoppingcart #traderjoes #protectourchildren #protectourkids #educational #groceries #singlemom #drleslie ♬ original sound - Dr. Leslie

The end result is this: a TikTok psychologist who boasts about how she refuses to return the shopping cart when leaving the grocery store, because doing so would require leaving her children in the car where they could be kidnapped and sex trafficked. According to a response she left in the comments, the goal of sharing her stance on returning shopping carts is that she wants women to “feel empowered to trust their intuition if they feel unsafe, ignore judgement. Risk isn’t worth it and our lives are precious.”

Frankly, as a psychologist, she’d be better off asking women to interrogate why exactly they’re so paranoid about being kidnapped from grocery store parking lots, whether that paranoia is grounded in reality and whether continuously feeding it is a particularly healthy thing to do.

@drlesliedobson #groceryshopping #shoppingcart #traderjoes #protectourchildren #protectourkids #educational #groceries #singlemom #drleslie ♬ original sound - Dr. Leslie

She didn’t do that though; instead, she doubled down, posting a second video with statistics about how many children were abducted from parking lots in 2023 in the United States (265, a disturbing but statistically speaking, fairly low number). Confusingly, she argues that this is proof that single moms returning their shopping carts are “prime” for a predator to watch and grab you — is she the one at risk, or is it the kids? She can’t seem to decide.

She also argues that in many states it’s illegal to turn your car on and walk away, which is what many commenters suggested she do so the kids aren’t waiting in a hot car. Her response was that in one L.A. grocery store parking lot, returning the cart involves a 12-minute walk, meaning you could go to jail for leaving your children alone for that long. Is this parking lot the size of a football field? Is taking your children with you on this long journey somehow not an option?

For my own peace of mind, I’m choosing to believe that the “satire” descriptor in her TikTok bio applies here, although the sheer number of videos about this and similar topics suggests otherwise. For my own sanity, I have to believe that nobody actually believes making more work for underpaid grocery store clerks is empowering and helping protect their loved ones from being kidnapped.