# Are we more down on kiddy-fiddling than we used to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-more-down-on-kiddy-fiddling-than-we-used-to-be/717605 "2015-04-14T00:14:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-more-down-on-kiddy-fiddling-than-we-used-to-be/717605/41 "2015-04-16T02:09:56Z")
My Mom was 13 years older than my Dad, although both were over 21 when they got married, and it’s hard for me to imagine any pre-marital sex {shudder}, as they were both super-religious, so I assume it was consensual. Kiddie-diddling was indeed suspected by dirty-minded gossips with nothing better to do, but I don’t think it was justified. Hard to tell if it would have lasted, as one party died suddenly 4 years later, but according to friends, it seemed like a marriage made in heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-more-down-on-kiddy-fiddling-than-we-used-to-be/717605/42 "2015-04-16T02:52:40Z")
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Really? Is that explicitly mentioned in the movie, or just the book? I don’t recall it being mentioned in the movie. Maybe they skirted the issue? 😕 …No pun intended. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-more-down-on-kiddy-fiddling-than-we-used-to-be/717605/43 "2015-04-16T12:34:37Z")
It’s the reason McMurphy is in the hospital. He had been arrested for statutory rape (of a 14 year old, IIRC) and had managed to plead that he was should be sent to the mental hospital rather than prison. ---
**Author:** ![slomomofo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@slomomofo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slomomofo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-more-down-on-kiddy-fiddling-than-we-used-to-be/717605/44 "2015-04-16T13:20:36Z")
There’s been a significant change in how the media portrays this topic- remember in the 80s along with satellite TV came over-saturation of the airwaves. Where previously there were only 3 or 4 news channels there are now hundreds, all vying for attention. This in turn caused the shift to the much more sensationalist approach to reporting that we now call normal. With assistance from the shift toward computer-generated effects, the nightly news now is more of a full-blown horror movie than it was 40 years ago. So general attitude toward child molestation might not have changed, but now we’re reminded every night on a national scale that rapists might be hiding in every shadow whereas previously it was only through word-of-mouth and books like Lolita or Cuckoo’s Nest. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-more-down-on-kiddy-fiddling-than-we-used-to-be/717605/45 "2015-04-16T14:02:59Z")
I think we think of kids as significantly different, too. Nowadays most of us look at a 13 YO soliciting sex with horror - I don’t mean just with her boyfriend, but let’s say she’s going after someone much older. Clearly something is wrong with her, anyway, we think she doesn’t know her right mind, because she hasn’t reached the age of consent. It wasn’t that long ago (and it still happens sometimes) that a 13 YO soliciting sex was considered a slutty slutty slut that deserved whatever she got. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-more-down-on-kiddy-fiddling-than-we-used-to-be/717605.md?page=2)