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sorchar
2011-02-03 11:17 pm UTC (link)

Oops, hit "post" too soon. Anyway, I think especially given that the thing with Roman Polanski had been all over the news in the 70s and has been again recently, putting forth the idea that an adolescent girl is able to consent to and even pursue sex with an adult in a mature, responsible way, and thus it's okay for him to do it (or you know, RAPE her in Polanski's case) is what really skeeves me. Maybe. I'm still working it out myself.

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snarkhunter
2011-02-03 11:54 pm UTC (link)

the idea that an adolescent girl is able to consent to and even pursue sex with an adult in a mature, responsible way

I don't believe this should ever be used as a foundation for policy or anything, but depending on how you define "adolescent," that can be true.

Do I think a 12-year-old can do this? No. But 16? 17? That's an adolescent. (Of course, technically so is an 18-year-old.) And I think it's insulting to the intelligence of older teens to assume that every single one who consented to sex with an 18, 19, 20, even 21-year-old (or maybe even older) has been abused, raped, whatever. I know there are Romeo & Juliet laws for this exact reason, but not all states have them, and the notion of a bright line between 17 and 18 is positively absurd.

Even 17 and 20...still not a problem for me if everyone's consenting. (I speak from the perspective of being the child of a couple who married at those exact ages.)

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sorchar
2011-02-04 12:12 am UTC (link)

Perhaps I should have been clearer that I mean younger adolescents, but I thought that was implied by the context of the post. No one, as far as I can see, has said anything about older teens, or sex between someone who's just under the age of consent and someone who's just over it.

And there's a huge difference, IMHO, between a fifteen-year-old having sex with, say, an eighteen-year-old, and having sex with someone who's in their thirties.

In the context of this discussion, we're not talking about older adolescents - Lucas found that uninteresting. We're talking about a twelve-year-old. We're not talking about teenagers on the verge of adulthood - we're talking about a character barely out of childhood. There's a big difference.

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	snarkhunter 2011-02-04 02:50 am UTC (link)
	Oh, I know what you meant, but I was just thinking out loud about something else that bothered me. And I agree completely that there's a HUGE difference between two teens (even one over 18) and someone who is in their 30s. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sorchar 2011-02-04 04:00 am UTC (link)
	Gotcha, and I get where you're coming from. When you read about some seventeen-year-old boy being prosecuted for having sex with his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, it's ridiculous. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

silrana
2011-02-04 04:35 pm UTC (link)

Back when I was in college, I was pleasantly surprised to find out in a law class that my home state had a provision that statutory rape had to involve at least a two year difference in ages between the participants, to prevent just that sort of thing. I wish more states had it. Of course, since I haven't lived there in twenty-five years, it may have changed, but I hope not.

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	snacky 2011-02-04 01:36 am UTC (link)
	Yes, it's the Polanski thing that I keep associating with this, especially with the "she pursued him" bit. And describing a twelve year old as "promiscuous!" And then I'm very glad they didn't make this an overt plot point in the film. Sigh. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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