Here’s a page with the transcript of his deposition. If you scroll down to page 109 of the transcript, you can see that the questions made it clear that they were talking about sex with young children, not just minors barely under 18. For example,
Q: When did you first discern that it was a crime for an adult to engage in sex with a kid?
A: I don’t remember.
Q: In 1984… you knew it was a crime then, right?
A: I’m not sure if I did or didn’t.
I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. I don’t think it would have been possible for any child to make it past puberty without knowing that molestation is wrong. My parents and teachers told us about molestation and what to do if we were ever threatened with it or, even worse, suffered it. We also had popular TV shows that had molestation episodes. Different Strokes and its episode called “The Bicycleman” laid things out blatantly.
I think I was around seventeen or eighteen when the reality struck me that statutory rape was a crime where the older partner could be convicted of rape and sent to prison REGARDLESS of whether or not their younger partner consented to sexual activity. Probably this was because it was the age when people I knew were actually being affected by the law. As far as sex with children went, I always knew forcing someone to have sex was wrong.
Without any context – the kind of context that would be present in a deposition – I’d have to say I don’t know that the statement is true today. What is meant by “kid?” Is “kid” synonymous with “person under the age of 18?”
If so, then it’s by no means an absolute truth that it’s illegal for an adult to engage in sex with a kid.
Or does “kid” mean something else?
This question comes from a deposition in which that confusion was used to good purpose: it allows the questioner to publish a shocking statement.
So TonySinclair: what did you mean when you wrote the word “kid?”
It was the subject of many a Donahue, Geraldo, Riki, Montel, and Sally Jesse show. Even early Oprah, before she went all highbrow. An after school and sick day TV feast.
I was seven when I was molested, and I knew immediately to run home and tell my mother. We went to court. For days. Then after the guy was convicted and jailed, his mother would come to our house, day after day, and wail by the front door. As I recall, the mom mainly wanted us to somehow get the decision reversed, since her son had been supporting her and she had no other source of income. This was in Turkey, 1965.
Very sad situation, now that I think back on it. But if a seven-year old kid, her parent and a rural Turkish court system realised then that fooling around sexually with a kid (and no, he did not have, or attempt to have, sex with me) was wrong, then the Archbishop is, well, a disingenuous tool. And he should rot and writhe in a hot burny place for the rest of eternity.
BTW, you don’t have to tell kids much about sex to let them know what molestation is and why it is wrong. They can understand concepts about inappropriate touching or nudity without knowing much about actual sex at all. Even very young children can understand that just fine even if they don’t know the first thing about how sex works.
Not really. You claimed that the transcript showed a clear context that excluded “persons under 18,” but your ‘for example’ showed nothing of the kind.
So if you mean, say, pre-pubescent children when you say “kids,” can you show where in the transcript the questioning lawyer makes that clear?
I imagine, since we were living in Bodrum at the time, and he was Turkish, he was in a Turkish prison. Hello. I was seven at the time and not tuned in to the extraneous details. :rolleyes:
Bathhouses were (and are) a common thing in other societies, and nudity was never a big deal. Although very strictly segregated.
Oh, quite possibly. I’m not good when it comes to popular culture references. I have utterly no clue what you are referring to. So carry on without me.
