# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/141 "2016-01-18T11:40:55Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > 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 Not to pre-judge any investigation but much of the investigation so far has produced next to no evidence of the more outrageous allegations against MP’s. I think we are/were going through part of a hysterical witchunt. That’s not to say MP’s haven’t been guilty of paedophilia and indeed cover-ups of individual pedophiles, but the click-bait allegations of group orgies and murder by our most famous politicians I now pretty much discount. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/142 "2016-01-18T14:57:24Z")
> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > So I take it you have no problem with teachers hitting upon their 16 y/o students? What does that have to do with it? Teachers (and other authority figures) shouldn’t be hitting on their students at any age, even 21 (or older) in universities. Rock musicians aren’t grading their exams. ---
**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 18, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/143 "2016-01-18T16:04:44Z")
**up\_the\_junction** “The Line” sounds a lot like what in the US 10+ years ago were called “[rainbow parties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_party_%28sexuality%29)”. But yes, there is an odd combination of sociocultural trends of keeping the youths being “protected” as minor children for an ever lengthening time period while at the same time celebrating the image of the [jailbait - remember this?](http://i.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/871285771010__iphone_640.jpg) > [@Colibri](#): > > What does that have to do with it? Teachers (and other authority figures) shouldn’t be hitting on their students at any age, even 21 (or older) in universities. Rock musicians aren’t grading their exams. Exactly. The laws and rules have evolved to focus on the power asymmetry. But those comments and others IMO proceed from a trend towards adopting an absolutist position of “adult-having-sex-with-16yo = always unquestionably evil no matter the circumstance” and that including circumstance in your evaluation makes us some sort of apologist. That skips over the fact that consensual sex with 16/17 year olds is LEGAL in most of the Western world and in most parts of the United States. OTOH someone over 21 having sex with a 13/14yo was just as illegal/immoral in the 1970s as today but the social attitudes were different and as long as someone did not actually \*complain \*it was not acted upon. A girl that age willingly heading into Jimmy Page’s or Steve Tyler’s dressing room then \*bragging \*about it to her classmates was thus treated different from one complaining she was doped up and raped _against her refusal_ by Roman Polanski. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/144 "2016-01-18T16:48:41Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Maybe it should be renamed the British Pedophile Invasion. Disgusting, really. Too bad we have limitation statutes. You, too, need to better understand the definition of pedophile. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/145 "2016-01-18T22:29:11Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > You know the latest craze in London, at least a local sub genre - and this is privately educated, middle class society? It’s called the The Line. No it’s called the Urban Legend, or “Can You Believe What The Kids are Getting Up to These Days?” ---
**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 19, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/146 "2016-01-19T08:20:31Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > **up\_the\_junction** “The Line” sounds a lot like what in the US 10+ years ago were called “[rainbow parties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_party_%28sexuality%29)”. But yes, there is an odd combination of sociocultural trends of keeping the youths being “protected” as minor children for an ever lengthening time period while at the same time celebrating the image of the [jailbait - remember this?](http://i.perezhilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/871285771010__iphone_640.jpg) I remember seeing an interview with one of the producers of Britney Spears’ first album, and he all but said that she was packaged and marketed from the start as forbidden, under-age, soft core kiddie porn. He said that the _“Yeah yeah yeah yeah…”_ moaning at the beginning of the song were added specifically to be orgasmic, sexual love grunts. The music video had her in little girl pigtails while also in a sexy little schoolgirl skirt dancing provocatively. [Look at the cover of her first album.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/..._Baby_One_More_Time_(album).png) She might as well be crouching on the porch of the trailer park watching the boys ride by on their bikes and giggling, _“Ha-huh! You want me to suck your dick? Ha-huh!”_… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2016, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/147 "2016-01-19T09:32:49Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > **up\_the\_junction** “The Line” sounds a lot like what in the US 10+ years ago were called “[rainbow parties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_party_%28sexuality%29)”. Do you mean in the sense that they were totally made up? ---
**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 19, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/148 "2016-01-19T18:25:06Z")
In every sense 😉 I expect it to cross the sea and turn up on Dr. Phil or The View or as a SVU plot any time soon. And re: Jailbait-era Britney, I’d have hit that like a rock star… 😃 ---
**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 19, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/149 "2016-01-19T20:23:06Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > No it’s called the Urban Legend, or “Can You Believe What The Kids are Getting Up to These Days?” > [@MrDibble](#): > > Do you mean in the sense that they were totally made up? Middle class London: > **[Amanda Redman is wrong - it's horrific being an 18-year-old woman today](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11836826/Amanda-Redman-is-wrong-its-horrific-being-an-18-year-old-woman-today.html)** > > Allison Pearson says: 'I can think of one woman alive who wouldn’t want to be 18 again. Me' ---
**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 19, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/150 "2016-01-19T20:29:46Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Middle class London: > > [Amanda Redman is wrong - it's horrific being an 18-year-old woman today](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11836826/Amanda-Redman-is-wrong-its-horrific-being-an-18-year-old-woman-today.html) So Allison Pearson’s “friend” didn’t actually see anything then? How peculiar! ---
**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 20, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/151 "2016-01-20T00:56:54Z")
It’s been a long time since I was a teenager but I think the idea was she wasn’t supposed to. ---
**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 20, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/152 "2016-01-20T23:14:16Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > It’s been a long time since I was a teenager but I think the idea was she wasn’t supposed to. You posted, essentially, a FOAF story as a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/153 "2016-01-21T01:01:00Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > It’s been a long time since I was a teenager but I think the idea was she wasn’t supposed to. Yeah, and we are not supposed to see Them putting the chemicals in jet fuel to make chemtrails, and the demolition charges in the WTC. The mere fact this woman saw nothing is pretty much proof that what she imagined to be going on was in fact going on, right? As Shea and Wilson have pointed out, the great thing about conspiracy theories [like urban legends of secret carryings on] is that any evidence of them is evidence for them, and any lack of evidence of them is evidence of how Supa Sekrit they are. ---
**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 21, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/154 "2016-01-21T05:45:46Z")
I don’t know what you guys got up to as a teenager living at home with your parents - tbh, it sounds like not much, but I’m glad as hell they didn’t walk in on what we were up to on innumerable occasions. I suspect you guys don’t grasp the, perhaps pseudo, self-possessed nature of the Taylor Swift / girl squad teen (sub) culture as expressed by well educated confident young women. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/155 "2016-01-21T06:37:49Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Please don’t diminish real pedophilia by calling what sexual antics transpire with 16 and 17 year olds what’s reserved for pre-pubescent _children._ Thank you. Gee, I wouldn’t want to _diminish_ real, honest-to-god pedophilia. Heaven forfend! If you think these predators were limiting themselves to 16 and 17 year old teens, then I have a little tale about the Catholic church you might enjoy. The kid Bowie and Page tooks turn raping was 13. Sure that child was pubescent, but a large number of 13 year olds are pre-pubescent. You really think they gave a shit? Fuck Bowie. May he rot. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/156 "2016-01-21T07:03:05Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Sure that child was pubescent, but a large number of 13 year olds are pre-pubescent. You really think they gave a shit? I don’t know. I doubt you do. Let’s assume the absolute worst despite the lack of available evidence. That seems only fair. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/157 "2016-01-21T07:04:16Z")
Does anyone think that here on the Dope we could ever get a definition of what an actual child is versus, say, what we won’t one to be for outrage purposes? Because for me, I’m going to stick to the boxes we put them in when we’re not worried about the boogeyman next door (or perhaps, the concert down the street). Yanno, such varied categories as babies, toddlers, children, tweens and teens. For in my world, words mean things and I do understand there’s a difference between a pedophile and, if warranted, an ephebophile. Obviously, your mileage varies. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/158 "2016-01-21T07:12:28Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > I don’t know what you guys got up to as a teenager living at home with your parents - tbh, it sounds like not much, but I’m glad as hell they didn’t walk in on what we were up to on innumerable occasions. > > I suspect you guys don’t grasp the, perhaps pseudo, self-possessed nature of the Taylor Swift / girl squad teen (sub) culture as expressed by well educated confident young women. No one would deny that teenagers get up to hijinks and that at times those hijinks are outrageous. However, that doesn’t mean that there is any outstanding penchant for group sex amongst young people of today. You started with a suggestion that “young people of today” were engaging a notable sex craze, and now you are suggesting that obvious urban legend is plausible because it’s nothing out of the usual compared to your youth. At this point you might want to consider quitting before you get any further behind. As to your last comment, every single older generation perceives “young women of today” to be overly forward sexually. As I’ve said before and I’ll say again, if every older person’s comments about younger women being more sexually bold than would have been acceptable back in their day were true, by now young women would be wandering the streets stark naked having sex with everything in sight. Which isn’t the case, to my observation. Do you have a lawn that you need to be getting kids off? ---
**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 21, 2016, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/159 "2016-01-21T08:29:23Z")
In other news, the Berlin Wall came down today. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919/160 "2016-01-21T13:57:55Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > The kid Bowie and Page tooks turn raping was 13. Sure that child was pubescent, but a large number of 13 year olds are pre-pubescent. You really think they gave a shit? FWIW, she was [14 the first time she met Bowie, and 15 when they had their first sexual encounter.](https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/i-lost-my-virginity-to-david-bowie) Still not legal, but a pretty significant difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-70s-rock-stars-get-a-pass-on-statutory-rape/742919.md?page=9)