Originally posted by mattifikation
Just because the victim doesn't find out - and in this case, the victim's father found the images - doesn't mean they are not a victim. Those
little girls were the victims of what he did, regardless of how prematurely slutty your own underage friends may be. And for the record, just
because a 12 year old has urges, it doesn't mean that they are capable of making decisions about sex on their own. That's precisely why they are
not legally allowed to. If you're suggesting otherwise, you are incredibly out of touch with reality even for a 17 year old.
I find the bolded statement deeply presumptuous. People mature at different rates. This is why many state laws are designed to allow underage people
to have healthy relationships, without threat of statutory rape from the parent or other morally incensed individuals.
Doing a quick search of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) I found this wording:
RCW 9A.44.073
Rape of a child in the first degree.
(1) A person is guilty of rape of a child in the first degree when the person has sexual intercourse with another who is less than twelve years old
and not married to the perpetrator and the perpetrator is at least twenty-four months older than the victim.
apps.leg.wa.gov...
Furthermore age of consent varies from state to state and country to country. While I personally find it in poor taste I understand that 3rd world
countries, much like older civilizations, where the laws of consent were lower due to life-expectancy considerations, create laws that try to find a
balance between societal norms / needs and the realization that children have historically been preyed upon -- to the detriment of the individual,
their family, and local society.
From a historical vantage point we gain another important datum.
The age of consent was 12 for a girl, 14 for a boy, [in early 1600 England], but for most children puberty came two or three years later than
it does today.
internetshakespeare.uvic.ca...
Since puberty is the bio-chemical process that converts a child in to a reproductively mature adult, it's important this is factored in to our notion
of age of consent. Recognizing that children will become active at different ages in different locales due to different evolutionary & environmental
pressures. Therefore the age of consent is a moving target that occasionally needs reevaluation.
Assuming the above data is correct, 10 / 12 year old children today are as active as 12 / 14 year old children in 1600 England. Therefore our laws
need a certain amount of sensitivity to allow these individuals to explore within reasonable limits. The above RCW code seems to account for this
change.
Speaking in such absolute terms, as you did in you original post, shows a strong sense of pluralistic morality but a very poor grasp of medical
science, a very shallow geopolitical / historical framework, and ignorance of the very valid philosophical points made for and against age of consent
laws in different localities.
[edit on 28-6-2009 by Xtraeme]