General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Anonymous on the case of lesbian girl charged with statutory rape. [View all]Xithras
(16,191 posts)And my 16 year old son is currently dating an 18 year old woman. I also spent many, many years teaching introductory math and CS to first and second year college students (17-19 years old). So yeah, I do spend a bit of time around that age group.
It sounds to me like you and I do agree on 90% of this, but I think that teaching limits is an important part of parenting. I don't think you can apply a blanket "when this teen sleeps with that teen, it should never be a crime". It simply leads to too many questions. While there are EXCEPTIONS to every case, we'll destroy our society if we base all of our laws on the exceptions. Your typical 14 year old is NOT social peers with your typical 18 year old, and the two should not be connecting sexually.
Understand that, as a bisexual man, if I found out that my daughter were dating an 18 year old woman when she was only 14, I wouldn't have hesitated to call the police and have her arrested and charged. By 18 years old a person SHOULD have the knowledge and self control to stop themselves from interacting sexually with such a young minor. Yes, 18 is still young, but an 18 year should at least nominally be acting like an adult. An adult should not be having sex with someone fresh out of middle school.