GuD

It started when she was 12 in this case so... yeah, I'd say that's abuse.


Little confessional comin on here but it's relevant to the topic:

I had my first sexual relationship when I was 16 with a 22yo college chick. At the time it seemed cool. In retrospect, she was a little messed up in the head but nothing major (came from a very unsupportive and dismissive family). It was completely consensual, I might've gotten into it for the wrong reason(s) but I knew exactly what I was doing. I don't regret that I had sex with someone older than me, either.

People look at teenagers like they're children- they're not. They're not adults either but they're faced with some of the same decisions and make some of the same mistakes as adults when it comes to relationships. Teenagers have sex, everyone knows that. Not all of them obviously but it happens often enough to make note of. I think age of consent laws are absolutely necessary and there definitely needs to be a line drawn somewhere, lots of creepers out there that could easily take advantage of youth. BUT, at the same time, a lot of people (at least from my experience) start having sex at around 16. As adults, who are we to tell them who they should and shouldn't have sex with? Wouldn't it be better to just be open with them and, as with anything else, do the best we can to teach them to think for themselves and make informed decisions? A little off-tangent here but if a parent can't do at least that much than should they really even be having kids in the first place? What kind of adult are they bringing into a world that's already faced with the oncoming crisis of overpopulation??

EDIT: I realize that since things worked out for me and since I'm a straight white male in America (any chance to drop an Andrew JJ reference, ANY) my view on this might come across as a little biased. Just wanted to stress that I'm aware that there are PLENTY of cases where things don't work out the way they did for me and the underaged persons more than likely ended up being scarred for life. All I'm saying is that I think teenagers should be given more credit for being human beings capable of wise decisions; I wouldn't be surprised if teens who felt infantilized were the ones acting out and making dumb decisions, IE sleeping with someone older because they could buy them the clothes their parents wouldn't.