# Dear Co-Worker: Joking About Dating a 16 Year Old Girl Is \_Not\_ Amusing **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 25, 2004, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324 "2004-03-25T11:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/41 "2004-03-25T17:12:56Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > You quoted a specific post, and then made a gross generalization with the comment: > There are several posts in this thread that mention family members or acquaintances who had such relationships, and have been happily married for 20+ years. That would make your comment either (a) incredibly rude or (b) evidence that you ignored or failed to read those posts. > > Again, it’s polite to read the entire thread before you post your bullshit generalizations. The only bullshit here the support of 22 year old adults fucking 16 year old kids. In normal society, it’s simply not appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/42 "2004-03-25T17:15:57Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Expressing a respectful interest one time to the mother (e.g. “I was wondering if your daughter is seeing someone and what you think about my asking her out?”) is fine. Repeatedly making crude comments about her “hotness” to the mother and other coworkers is gross and IMHO actionable. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner! As for sixteen being too young for twenty-two, it’s not so much the age difference as that a sixteen year old is at a completely different stage in life than a twenty-two year old, and unless one was very mature, or the other very immature, I can’t imagine they’d have much in common. I was almost a completely different person when I was 22 than when I was 16. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/43 "2004-03-25T17:17:09Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > The only bullshit here the support of 22 year old adults fucking 16 year old kids. In normal society, it’s simply not appropriate. No. In your cracked head, it’s not appropriate. In many normal societies, it is, has been, and always will be appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/44 "2004-03-25T17:20:37Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > The only bullshit here the support of 22 year old adults fucking 16 year old kids. In normal society, it’s simply not appropriate. I’m sure you meant “…in my idea of a ‘normal society’…”. YOUR normal is obviously not other people’s normal. I.E.- a chaste and oppressed society just begging for a kink revival and rebellion… Sam ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/45 "2004-03-25T17:22:13Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > The only bullshit here the support of 22 year old adults fucking 16 year old kids. In normal society, it’s simply not appropriate. No, it’s not appropriate, but it’s not out-and-out-wrong, either (although talking about it in such a lewd way is icky in the extreme). Our society and our laws frown on it, as you noted, but we are at the mercy of our caveman instincts, which say “If there’s grass on the field, play ball!” It’s a perfectly natural instinct, but one that should be suppressed. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/46 "2004-03-25T17:22:56Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > No. In your cracked head, it’s not appropriate. > > In many normal societies, it is, has been, and always will be appropriate. My head isn’t cracked. 16 is a kid. 22 is an adult. The cracked heads are those who are too fucking stupid to realize exploitation of children or those lecherous enough to actually do it or support it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Kalimero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aca169/32.png) [@Kalimero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalimero)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/47 "2004-03-25T17:24:11Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > Despite development, they aren’t adults. They aren’t treated as such by society or by government. Just because legislators got together and figured out who had the youngest piece of ass on the side and put it into law just doesn’t fly with me. Well, I object the notion that having sex is a privilege that is reserved to adults. 16 year old teenagers are not treated as adults, that’s true. But where I live, they are not treated as children, either. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/48 "2004-03-25T17:25:48Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Bestiality too? > > How would that work in dog years…? Oh for fuck’s sake…was it really necessary to make the comparison between a law that [targets](http://www.sodomylaws.org/lawrence/lwnews002.htm) gay people and fucking a dog? Since gay people suffer that comparison every fucking day, do you think that maybe you could just every once in a while refrain from making it? Asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/49 "2004-03-25T17:26:11Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > The only bullshit here the support of 22 year old adults fucking 16 year old kids. In normal society, it’s simply not appropriate. How about a 23 year old dating a 17 year old? How about a 24 year old dating an 18 year old? How about a 25 year old dating a 19 year old? How about a 26 year old dating a 20 year old? How about an 80 year old dating a 74 year old? Or, for that matter, an 80 year ld dating a 25 year old? Would you please indicate which of these relationships is appropriate in normal society, and provide the algorithim used to reach your conclusion? Finally, please provide the process by which you arrived at the algorithim. Thanks. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/50 "2004-03-25T17:26:51Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > I’m just saying it’s not unnatural to want to mate with a fertile adult (in biological terms, if a girl has achieved menarche, she’s an adult. Which is what makes the phenomenon of [Early-onset puberty](http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/Newsletter/General/v6i1/little.girls.cfm) so disturbing. [Especially when observed in first-graders](http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/sexual/precocious.html). As society changes, so does our biology. EOP is an example. As for societal condemnation, I don’t think it’s so much the age difference as the power imbalance - this girl has no higher education and no means of supporting herself in a sustainable way. When [financial reasons](http://www.leavingabuse.com/why_women_stay.html) are a barrier to leaving abuse, we can’t ignore this factor. Not to mention the [troubling pregnancy and STI statistics.](http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3430402.html) This girl does not have the real-world experience or the education that the man has. They are not equals. So the question becomes, can you trust this man not to take advantage of that? Obviously **Kalimero** and **Bricker’s** relatives deserved that trust. I have a feeling, though that he’s more like **belladonna** ’s example. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/51 "2004-03-25T17:30:38Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > And here’s an example of societal mores clashing with the mating instinct. In American society, we have made 18 the legal age of consent, and we jail anyadult who breaks that law by messing with the underaged. It’s a sensible rule to lock up molesters and other perverts, yet it also, as in this case, clashes with our natural instincts. > > Our civilzation is only a few thousand years old, but our bodies’ hormonal surges are identical to those of our prehistoric ancestors. In the Ice Age, it made sense for a 22-year-old male in the prime of life to desire a 16-year-old girl who has achieved sexual maturity, because in that long ago world, life often ended in the late 20s or early 30s. If you have a life expectancy of 35, you want to get busy mating as early as possible. Even in relatively recent times, it was not unheard of for older men to marry much younger and presumably more fertile women. > > Given our societal mores, it makes sense for the 22-year-old co-worker to shut the hell up, especially in the girl’s mother’s hearing. But we can’t really blame him for looking at a hot girl and feeling the call of his ancestors. I am NOT condoning getting it on with minors; I’m just saying it’s not unnatural to want to mate with a fertile adult (in biological terms, if a girl has achieved menarche, she’s an adult). > > I just think we should have the sense to distinguish between a pervert trolling the elementary school playground and a young man lusting after a girl a mere 6 years his junior. I have always read that reaching menarche is NOT a sign of fertility, that it usually takes a couple of years for a girl to start ovulating after her first period. I had my first period at 10, by the way. I was not a physical adult, though I did look older than I actually was. My parents met when she was 16 and he was 22. They dated and kept in touch for three years. My dad knew that my mother was the one he wanted to marry from the beginning, but he encouraged her to date other guys, so that SHE could be sure of him. They got married when she was almost 20, and he was almost 26. They’re still married, and still very much in love with each other, after 47 years. However, in the case of the OP, I think that what we have here is simply a horndog. He’d probably make inappropriate remarks about any attractive female. And he needs to be stopped. He can think whatever he likes, but when he starts making other people uncomfortable with his remarks, then he’s crossed the line. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/52 "2004-03-25T17:32:02Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > My head isn’t cracked. 16 is a kid. 22 is an adult. The cracked heads are those who are too fucking stupid to realize exploitation of children or those lecherous enough to actually do it or support it. > :rolleyes: Oh I get it now. 22 is an adult. 16 is a kid. So if they had sex its just like a 40 year old having sex with a 9 year old. Thanks for making it so black and white for us. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/53 "2004-03-25T17:39:48Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > I have always read that reaching menarche is NOT a sign of fertility, that it usually takes a couple of years for a girl to start ovulating after her first period. I had my first period at 10, by the way. I was not a physical adult, though I did look older than I actually was. 10? Wow! Clearly, I need to educate myself more on menarche and puberty in females. > [@](#): > > My parents met when she was 16 and he was 22. They dated and kept in touch for three years. My dad knew that my mother was the one he wanted to marry from the beginning, but he encouraged her to date other guys, so that SHE could be sure of him. They got married when she was almost 20, and he was almost 26. They’re still married, and still very much in love with each other, after 47 years. My dad was 27 and my mom was 17, and they were very happy until he died. > [@](#): > > However, in the case of the OP, I think that what we have here is simply a horndog. He’d probably make inappropriate remarks about any attractive female. And he needs to be stopped. He can think whatever he likes, but when he starts making other people uncomfortable with his remarks, then he’s crossed the line. Yeah, talking like that at work is just completely out of bounds. The 22-year-old neds to learn how to deport himself in a professional manner on the job. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/54 "2004-03-25T17:51:21Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > However, in the case of the OP, I think that what we have here is simply a horndog. He’d probably make inappropriate remarks about any attractive female. And he needs to be stopped. He can think whatever he likes, but when he starts making other people uncomfortable with his remarks, then he’s crossed the line. Another DING DING DING! I gather that this girl has expressed no interest in this guy, and maybe doesn’t even know that he’s talking like such a pig about her. It’s inappropriate. If he were a mature person and wanted to ask her out, he would just ask her out and skip the lechery, regardless of whether she’s 16 or 26. Mr S’s most serious relationship before me was when he was 23 and she was 16. He took her to her high school prom. Knowing him as I do, I can assure you that I believe him when he says that he was a perfect gentleman. (He would have been anyway, because that’s the kind of guy he is, but in this case even more so because she was a distant (nonblood) relative and the family was watching very closely.) And we’re even 12 years apart, although I was 21 when we started dating. On the other hand, the other day Mr. S told me about a guy who works at an area high school; the guy’s daughter is a student there, and **he’s dating her best friend.** Eww. Can you imagine the conversations between those two girls? “Your dad is such a great kisser!” (or worse). ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/55 "2004-03-25T17:54:00Z")
Sex between people of any age where there is a big gap in emotional maturity isn’t quite morally right. Note I focus on emotional maturity. I am also speaking of those peope who “prey” on others, finding someone who’s weakened by events in their life, and manipulating them during a “relationship”, otherwise called players/users. There are laws made to protect those who are still “budding”, so that they can grow up without being harmed by a relationship like that. There are even laws made to protect those who aren’t able to consent to sex at all too, for whatever reason, whether it be severe retardation, coma, drunk etc. In this society at least, there is a large differnce in emotional/life experience states between a 16 year old, and a 22 year old, because they are, as another has stated at different stages in their life. Even if the 16 year old IS emotionally mature enough to be an equal to the 22 year old, they still don’t have the “life experiences” that the 22 year old does yet. This can make an imbalance in the relationship, and could lead to problems. Not every relationship between an older person, and a younger person is problematic. Sometimes a person is physically young, but has enough life knowledge to be an equal to an older partner. Note, I was courted by an 18 year old, (much to my astonishment, and alarm at first) who is an exception to this. I married him. There are over 10 years difference in our ages, however, I’m at a stage in my life, where I’m having to start all over again, and take time to let myself heal and grow. I’ve been scarred by a long, abusive relationship, I wasn’t allowed to really grow in some ways. He knows this, and gives me room to stretch when I need it, or a shoulder as the case may be. Because of things that happened to me, we are in a way, at the same stage in our lives. This is one reason why I feel the marriage is right. It is wrong to break the law, and it’s also not right to continue to “joke” about something that could be potentially offensive in the workplace. This person needs to be told that their behaivior is disturbing people so they have a chance to correct it. \*On preview: I was 9 1/2 when I got my first period. They thought I had appendicitis, because my white blood cell count was through the roof. I wonder about that, because I had to have a hysterectomy. \* ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/56 "2004-03-25T17:58:51Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > The only bullshit here the support of 22 year old adults fucking 16 year old kids. In normal society, it’s simply not appropriate. Um, which normal society are you referrring to? In a lot of societies, 16 is prime marrying age. Just for an example that a couple of minutes of Googling turned up [here’s](http://faculty.washington.edu/stevehar/ageatmarriage.html) a cite that in Chinese society, women married very early, within a few years of puberty, while men waited longer, typically with the poorer males waiting longer, presumably until they could get to a point where they could support a wife. Other societies were, if not as supportive of early marriage, certainly allowed it. For example, \* Sense and Sensibility \*, Jane Austen describes the marriage of the 17 year old Marianne to the middle-aged Colonel Brandon and I don’t recall anyone’s head exploding with outrage. I don’t particularly hold with 22 year olds fooling around with 16 year olds, just because in most cases, the maturity difference is pretty high, but I don’t find it enormously shocking. Still, the behavior of the guy mentioned in the OP is pretty tacky, and he merits a dope slap just to acquaint him with the finer points of etiquette. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/57 "2004-03-25T18:00:54Z")
> [@Siege](#): > > OK, so I was irritable yesterday. Nevertheless, this is what I would like to say to a 22 year old male co-worker. His continuous jokes about how hot he finds another co-worker’s 16 year old daughter and how much he’d like to date her are not cute, amusing, or funny, at least not to me, at least not the 50th time. To quote Robert Heinlein, it’s a “funny once.” Now, it’s getting to dirty-old-man levels, and not even cute, amusing dirty-old-man. It’s more like pervert in a raincoat. > > The three of us have lunch together fairly often, and my co-worker’s daughter seems like a bright, pleasant, fun teenager from what her mother says of her. She seems to have a string of fellows after her, and they seem like pretty decent types. Still, if she knew about this (she doesn’t), I’d be tempted to advise her to give the guy one warning, then a knee to the crotch. As for me, I am getting tempted to call the guy on his behaviour. I suspect if I did he’d say he’s just joking around and say I have no sense of humor. I do, but I don’t find him amusing, and I’m harder to amused when I’m overworked and dealing with someone who’s allowing other people to become overworked (that’s a different rant). I swear, though, I’m also tempted to tell him if he doesn’t cease and desist, I’m telling his girlfriend! > > What I’d like to say: > Look, you immature, lazy, twit! It’s _not funny_! You’re older; you have a job; you work with her mother. While I’ve little doubt the girl’s more mature than you mentally and emotionally, you’ve got no business even joking about hitting on her. Besides, I hope the girl’s got better taste. You’re an adult, at least in years; she’s not. I’d say pick on someone your own age, but I’d worry about the girl’s little sister. :rolleyes: You haven’t mentioned how the girl’s mother feels about this. Is she un-amused as well, or is she taking it all in jest? I’d imagine that has a lot to do with how the guy should act. At least, I’d make decisions about how I talked about cow-orkers’ family members based more upon the cow-orker whose family member it was, than another random person there. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/58 "2004-03-25T18:19:43Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > The only bullshit here the support of 22 year old adults fucking 16 year old kids. In normal society, it’s simply not appropriate. So are you saying you still haven’t read the many testimonies of perfectly healthy 16/22 relationships mentioned in the thread, or are you still trying to shoehorn your head out of your ass? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/59 "2004-03-25T18:41:48Z")
It looks like the zero-tolerance mindset is active again. Do we really want to legislate this to the point where a young man is arrested on his 18th birthday for fooling around with his one month younger girlfriend? If we don’t, then any law passed will be selectively enforced, and where’s the fairness in that? **Siege,** the guy is a jerk for going on like that with you around- and it’s possible he’s testing the waters with _you._ You see, if you act nice and encourage him, he’ll see that you think he’s OK, and he can go from there. Men have such convoluted ideas about what women think- at least that’s what I get from personal experience. Tell him that it makes you uncomfortable, and ask him to stop. Approach your boss about the hostile workplace he’s creating if he doesn’t stop. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324/60 "2004-03-25T18:52:05Z")
> [@](#): > > So are you saying you still haven’t read the many testimonies of perfectly healthy 16/22 relationships mentioned in the thread, or are you still trying to shoehorn your head out of your ass? I wonder if there’s anything to the fact that these examples are always older male/younger female. I think this whole discussion isn’t really about age, it’s about men and women. Generally, with couples with big age differences, it’s an older man/younger women. Like my uncle who is 53 and married to a 33-year-old woman (and they started dating when she was in her early 20s, which I found kind of objectionable). But you don’t often see a 53-year-old woman and a man 20 years her junior getting together. Not that many older women wouldn’t like to, but in our society, it just doesn’t work that way (unfortunately). Also, you would never see a 23-year-old woman making those types of lewd comments about a 16-year-old boy!! > [@](#): > > Do we really want to legislate this to the point where a young man is arrested on his 18th birthday for fooling around with his one month younger girlfriend? If we don’t, then any law passed will be selectively enforced, and where’s the fairness in that? This reminds me of them time when a cop caught me (16 at the time) and my boyfriend (18 at the time) fooling around in the back seat of my car, and threatening to arrest him. However at the time there was only like a year and a half difference between us, so I didn’t see what the big deal was! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-co-worker-joking-about-dating-a-16-year-old-girl-is-_not_-amusing/236324.md?page=4)