Straight Dope Message Board

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Originally Posted by Grestarian

I submit to you all that the modern laws and sentencing are rooted in ancient laws and sentencing which are tied to the values of patriarchal societies and those modern laws still have yet to be modernized.

Bingo! Dead on.

I look at it this way- most of the arguing that it's different somehow for a teenage girl/adult man versus a teenage boy/adult woman seem to center around the idea that teenage girls don't want sex/don't derive status from it, and teenage boys do.

I think that's mostly absurd. While the male libido is in high gear at that age, it doesn't at all mean that the female libido is absent, or that girls are uninterested.

What seems to be the biggest difference is whether or not it's coercive on the part of the adult. I'm reminded of a college buddy who'd had this happen to him when he was in high school. A young-ish woman (IIRC she was in her mid-late 20s at the time) had essentially coerced him into sex through her role as a martial arts teacher. And let me tell you, it FUCKED him up as far as his relationships with women were concerned. And I'm absolutely sure the same thing happens when it's an adult male coercing a teenage girl.

But... if 16 year old Lolita seduces her 40 year old unmarried male neighbor because she thinks he's hot, interesting, and not part of her school social circle, where's the harm? In large part, it's two consenting people, and no different than if it was 40 year old unmarried neighbor and her 16 year old teenage boy neighbor.

It's the coercion/power differential that's the thing; it's amplified by the adult/teenager thing, but fundamentally it's no different than the "traditional" superior/subordinate type sex assault.