moominmuppet

I don't think people are necessarily assigning sexual motivations to it. I certainly don't, and I haven't generally found it described in that context when it's come up. I don't recall that being one of the points in the article, either. I also don't think that it's anything other than well-meaning, nor have I generally heard other people claim such (nor did they in the article). It doesn't change that whether the guy realizes it or not, it is rather patronizing, and the article addressed that pretty effectively, I thought.