# Why do '70s rock stars get a pass on statutory rape? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919 "2016-01-12T12:27:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/101 "2016-01-13T16:16:23Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > Once again he is probably more of a pop star rather than a rock star but **Cliff Richard**. In 1959 he was seen (honestly) as a British version of **Elvis Presley** and would later be lauded by \*\*John Lennon[/B For the record, Elvis was porking Priscilla when she was a gorgeous and precocious (read: slutty) 14-year-old. Something else you have to understand is that newspapers didn’t report about this stuff because generally the public didn’t want to know about it. As strange as it may seem today back then any reputable newspaper or magazine would have a difficult time even broaching the subject without making \*themselves \*look like a sleazy, pornographic scandal sheet. Even though they were still journalists reporting factual news if that news was especially salacious (sex, drugs etc.) it would make the reporters and their publications appear as smut-peddlers to the public. Great time to be a rock star though… ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/102 "2016-01-13T16:57:51Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > For the record, Elvis was porking Priscilla when she was a gorgeous and precocious (read: slutty) 14-year-old. In Germany, though. It doesn’t count here - fuck the rest of the world we’re only interested in British musicians screwing US girls in North America. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/103 "2016-01-13T17:26:04Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > For the record, Elvis was porking Priscilla when she was a gorgeous and precocious (read: slutty) 14-year-old. Here’s Wiki on [Elvis and young girls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_relationships_of_Elvis_Presley#Priscilla): > [@](#): > > Elvis and Priscilla Ann Beaulieu first met in 1959 while Elvis was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army. Priscilla was 14 years old when Elvis met her.[39] Elvis’ relationships with young women were pointed in “In his love life,” by Reuben Fine, who observed that Elvis "quickly became attached to teenage girls, and he loved to have them wearing white panties in bed with him. For a long time he would not have sex with them, whom he described as ‘jail bait.’ "[40] In similar terms, Brent D. Taylor has stated that “Elvis’s closest female relationships were usually with young girls of around 13 or 14, ending as they reached late teens. He didn’t have sex with these young girls, but had pajama parties, pillow fights and indulged in ‘girl talk’, just as he did with Gladys.”[41] “As a perpetual youth”, Elvis was “attracted to young women”,[42] and “Elvis felt comfortable with these adolescent girls” because he “was so insecure … That’s why he needed younger girls.”[43] Elvis biographer Alanna Nash also confirms that the singer had a predilection for young adolescent girls. The author says that Presley was overly attached to his mother and could not relate normally to mature women; presumably, Presley sought out very young girls because he felt threatened by women who were older.[44] > > In 1962 or 1963, Elvis managed to talk the understandably reluctant Beaulieus into allowing their teenage daughter to live with his father, Vernon, and stepmother, Dee Presley, at a home Elvis purchased on Hermitage Drive in Memphis located at the back of Graceland. However, that arrangement lasted only a matter of weeks, Priscilla slipping back and forth between Vernon’s house and Graceland.[45] In her 1985 autobiography, Elvis and Me, written with author Sandra Harmon, Priscilla describes Presley as a very passionate man who was not overtly sexual towards her. According to her account,[46] the singer told her that they had to wait until they were married before having intercourse. He said, “I’m not saying we can’t do other things. It’s just the actual encounter. I want to save it.” Priscilla says in her autobiography that she and Elvis did not have sex until their wedding night. However, this claim is questioned by Suzanne Finstad.[47] Priscilla won a defamation suit against an author who wrote she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding night. Elvis has a number of accusations that he did more than just heavy petting with his teen-age loves. I can’t find in a quick search that any of these has been proven. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/104 "2016-01-13T18:40:59Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Age of consent in Canada was raised from 14 to 16 - in 2008! (It was raised from 12 to 14 in 1890). We actually recently had a presentation which included the consent laws in Canada - what I found was fascinating is that Canada is one of the few countries that not only does “No mean No”, but that requires a “Yes” or consent is not considered given. Also, that “yes” can’t be given under pressure or feeling pressured or threatened. Interesting! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/105 "2016-01-13T20:23:29Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > For the record, Elvis was porking Priscilla when she was a gorgeous and precocious (read: slutty) 14-year-old. She has claimed many times that she was a virgin until she got married. :dubious: Their sex life lasted exactly 9 months and 1 week, because she got pregnant almost immediately after the wedding, and it’s been well known that Elvis couldn’t “perform” with a woman who had given birth. :eek: Really, though, 99% of the girls and women who go backstage have no desire to have sex with any of the band members. They just want to get a hug, an autograph, and a kiss on the cheek, that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/106 "2016-01-13T20:31:47Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > Two members of reasonably successful 1960s and 1970s UK pop band **The Tremeloes** (biggest hit probably **Silence Is Golden** ) are currently passing through the British legal system. > > Leonard Hawkes (70) and Richard Westwood (68) are accused of Indecent Assault on a 15 year old girl back in 1968. They are currently out on bail and the case will restart in April. > > TCMF-2L That was 48 years ago. What’s the statute of limitations for Indecent Assault in the UK? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/107 "2016-01-13T20:38:41Z")
It is my understanding that there is no such thing in the UK for sexual crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/108 "2016-01-13T20:46:35Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#): > > That said, a claim that comes out just after a man has died and can no longer defend himself - I’m less than inclined to give it much thought. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bowie did some very unsavory things in his day, because 70s and cocaine, but I imagine that’s true of a lot of the celebrities of the time, and I’ll pick and chose my outrage based on the strength and notoriety of the accusation. The Lori Maddox stuff isn’t new information, and Maddox herself doesn’t seem to have much in the way of regrets about it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/109 "2016-01-14T00:23:49Z")
If you go back to the Joey Buttafuco/Amy Fisher scandal in 1992, originally the Nassau County Police were not going to prosecute Joey for having sex with an underage girl (I think they did it a few days before she turned legal). It was only when he was dumb and arrogant enough to call Howard Stern’s radio show denying it that the police decided to prosecute him and he got six months in the slammer. ``` OP question: if you are a fan of someone, you will make excuses for him. ``` ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/110 "2016-01-14T00:33:05Z")
Then there’s [Bill Wyman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Wyman) of the Rolling Stones. “On 2 June 1989, aged 52, Wyman married 18-year-old Mandy Smith whom he had been dating since she was 13 and he was 47 years old. According to Smith, their relationship was sexually consummated when she was 14 years old.[21] Their relationship was the subject of considerable media attention. The marriage ended in spring 1991, although the divorce was not finalised until 1993.[22] In 1993, while Wyman was still married to Smith, Stephen, his son from his first marriage, married Smith’s mother.[21]” ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/111 "2016-01-14T00:44:30Z")
Well, as has been talked about a million times 14 was and is fine - unless your some kind of Victorian prude. It’s the age gap that’s the issue. It happened in that particular case because Mandy’s mum pretty well pimped her out to Wyman. hdoesn’t excuse his behaviour but the girl was let down by two adults. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/112 "2016-01-14T01:03:30Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Then there’s [Bill Wyman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Wyman) of the Rolling Stones. > > “On 2 June 1989, aged 52, Wyman married 18-year-old Mandy Smith whom he had been dating since she was 13 and he was 47 years old. According to Smith, their relationship was sexually consummated when she was 14 years old.[21] Their relationship was the subject of considerable media attention. The marriage ended in spring 1991, although the divorce was not finalised until 1993.[22] In 1993, while Wyman was still married to Smith, Stephen, his son from his first marriage, married Smith’s mother.[21]” I think it was Jay Leno who said of this divorce at the time: “You know how much emotional baggage women get when they hit the big 2-0!” ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/113 "2016-01-14T05:22:13Z")
It’s worth noting that the 70’s were the culmination of a steady and accelerating relaxation of sexual mores. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/114 "2016-01-14T05:36:50Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > It’s worth noting that the 70’s were the culmination of a steady and accelerating relaxation of sexual mores. One result of which was AIDS. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/115 "2016-01-14T05:43:27Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > One result of which was AIDS. Sure, and STD’s were unknown prior to the permissive 70’s. The AIDS epidemic was always going to happen. In a less permissive time it might have happened a little more slowly. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/116 "2016-01-14T12:08:15Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > That was 48 years ago. What’s the statute of limitations for Indecent Assault in the UK? As mentioned there is no statute of limitations for serious crimes in the UK. Indeed guidance to the police requires them to take historic allegations seriously and, further, the police these days often appeal to the public to come forward with any allegations. The result is the UK police have literally thousands of cases they are working through. Any rape investigation can be difficult but historic cases dating back to the 1950s even more so. Thus the police are dealing with the backlog slowly and investigations are taking years. There are huge amounts of cases, and potential cases (no charges made yet) against all sorts of UK celebrities and household names. Pop stars, TV stars, Comedians, DJs and more. Politicians are included and, for example, there is an on going investigation into an alleged cabal of homosexual peadophile rapist murderers operating out of the Houses of Parliament. That’s not hyperbole: The investigation is looking at male Members of Parliament who procured and abducted young boys, gang raped them and then killed them. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/117 "2016-01-14T17:54:56Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > As mentioned there is no statute of limitations for serious crimes in the UK. > > There are huge amounts of cases, and potential cases (no charges made yet) against all sorts of UK celebrities and household names. Pop stars, TV stars, Comedians, DJs and more. If I were Jimmy Page I’d be going into hiding somewhere like in the Gobi just in case… > [@](#): > > Politicians are included and, for example, there is an on going investigation into an alleged cabal of homosexual peadophile rapist murderers operating out of the Houses of Parliament. That’s not hyperbole: The investigation is looking at male Members of Parliament who procured and abducted young boys, gang raped them and then killed them. Then again like with rock stars and tween girls, wasn’t that sort of expected of MP’s for a while…? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/118 "2016-01-14T18:02:12Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Sure, and STD’s were unknown prior to the permissive 70’s. > > The AIDS epidemic was always going to happen. In a less permissive time it might have happened a little more slowly. That’s where I was coming from. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/119 "2016-01-14T19:55:16Z")
I think the extension of the age of consent for girls is just a symptom of the broader trend of extending childhood longer and longer. When I was a teen, anyone still living at home in their 20’s (unless in school) was looked at askance. Most everyone I knew had a job by the time they were 14. People would make fun of you if you went out trick or treating on halloween past the age of 12 or so. My junior high school and high school both had smoking rooms for the students, and it was a rite of passage to take your driver’s license test on your 16th birthday or close to it, even if you didn’t have a car. My brother moved out of the house when he was 16. I didn’t go until I was 19. And of course, we gave kids a lot more responsibility then. I was walking six blocks to school in grade 1, and the sidewalks were full of other kids doing the same. Today, there are no kids on the sidewalks, but lines of cars at the schools to pick the little darlings up. One parent at my kid’s school got a visit from child services because she let her kid walk one block to the school without supervision. So… I suspect that 14-16 year old girls in that era and before were more world-wise and emotionally capable than similar children today, which might explain why we didn’t think it was as big a deal if they got into a sexual relationship - especially if the age gap wasn’t too large. Lots of girls in my high school were dating ‘college boys’ or young men who were out of high school and now working. No one thought much of it, other than to hate on the college guys for stealing all the cute girls. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/120 "2016-01-14T20:46:31Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > [QUOTE=TCMLF-2L] > Politicians are included and, for example, there is an on going investigation into an alleged cabal of homosexual peadophile rapist murderers operating out of the Houses of Parliament. That’s not hyperbole: The investigation is looking at male Members of Parliament who procured and abducted young boys, gang raped them and then killed them. Then again like with rock stars and tween girls, wasn’t that sort of expected of MP’s for a while…? [/QUOTE] The murder part was probably not expected (unless, for example, you subscribe to some of the wilder Jack the Ripper conspiracy theories and even those crimes involved young women rather than boys). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919.md?page=7)