Why is ignorance of age not an excuse?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Drain_Bead

Little story. Back when I first moved to Columbus, my parents would go out to sports bars to watch Buffalo Bills games, and would often take me along. One evening we were out at a sports bar/restaurant (think something like a Champps, but not a chain) and the waitress was going around with trays of free jello shots. She offered me one, and I gladly accepted, because hey, free jello! My parents, who were paying attention to the game, didn’t notice until I had taken it and the waitress offered them one too. They saw mine and freaked out.

I was eleven years old. I was also 5’8" tall, wore a size 8-10, and had a B-cup. I was intelligent and articulate for my age, and frequently fooled people into thinking I was much older than I was.

I now work in juvenile court, and frequently see 13 to 15-year-old girls who could easily pass for 18+, especially considering some of the stuff their mothers let them wear.

One last anecdote. An old ex of mine, who was about 26 at the time, once told me of the story about how he had sex with a 16-year-old without realizing it. They met at the bar, where she was drinking tequila shots. He found out her age the next morning, and he was still sick about it a few years later.

I do not buy for a second that an eleven year old could be mistaken for a 21 year old. Not for a second. Nor do I buy any of this bullshit about 13 or 14 year olds supposedly looking like 18 year olds. No they don’t, and it’s no excuse even if they do. If a girl actually IS 13, then she looks young enough for there to be doubt. If a guy doesn’t know a girl well enough to know how old she is, then h doesn’t know here well enough to fuck her.

I don’t believe these guys as a general rule anyway. They say they didn’t know, but the truth is they just didn’t really want to know or they convinced themselves that they had plausibile deniability.

I think it’s disgusting that so many guys in this thread are trying to find weaselly justifications as to why they should be able to fuck underage girls, or why they’re the victims if they do.

It’s an extremely avoidable crime.