http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/051421p.pdf
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/044092p.pdf

:D

But seriously, kids today are better fed and healthier. That increases the possibility of pregnancy in girls, which places an even greater burden on them and their family. In addition we actively discourage conversation regarding sexual activity and pregnancy. I once overheard a sexually active boy of 17 telling his friends that fact had to be kept from his dad, or his dad would have a cow. Yet we have people who blithely insist a pregnant girl must get her parent's permission before getting an abortion. How do you expect her to tell her mother and father about her pregnancy, when she's not really able to tell them about her sex life?

On this subject it's not a good time to be a kid.

That said, & as JJ implied, it's not unreasonable to create a strong incentive to get to know your lust-object well enough before having sex with her. Like, visit her house? Find out where she is during the day--at work, or in class?

If you read enough and watch enough Discovery Channel shows, you'll know that women/girls (and their parents)instinctively look for stability and security in a partner in order to support them and their children. This usually means an older man. After all, how many 18 year old boys are stable or secure financially? On the other hand, men instinctively look for fertility, which is usually found in the young.

Historically, with women dying in childbirth and a short life expectancy, girls were usually married by the time they were 18 to men who were usually in their 30s or later, many of whom were on their second or third wife. For example, my great-grandmother was 17 and her husband was 28 and well-to-do when they married. Laura Ingalls Wilder tells of a friend who was 13 when she got married. Laura herself was only 18, Almanzo her husband was 28.

However, our values and culture have changed and we now have extended childhood much longer. Many 'children' don't leave their parents until their 20s or 30s, instead of their teens. I certainly don't want some 30-something man messing with my 14-year-old daughter, who looks at least 18 (especially in a bikini). Most of us want our daughters to get their education and fulfill their career dreams as well as having a family.

As far as the law goes, given human history, I don't think it's perverted for men to want teenage girls. It's when they go after children who haven't reached puberty that they have a problem. And what's with the trend lately with women in their 30s having sex with 13-year-old boys? THAT is definitely not natural. We just had another case like that here (Colorado) last week. And cases that deal with a person in a position of trust, like a teacher or a minister are wrong too, just like with adults.

I think the law needs to differentiate between these different cases. Although I do believe that as humans, we're supposed to be able to control our more basic instincts and stay within cultural bounds. Does that 48-year-old man want someone like him to do the same thing with his daughter? Even if she was 19? Even so, it doesn't make what he did rape or sexual assault.

So, is there a legal (not moral, mind you) defense that can be used in these circumstances? Or is it always on the shoulders of the elder to make sure their partner is legal?

And Alan - Wow! That's not a family, it's an assembly line!

Where early marriage is concerned...

Many years ago, when I was rather bad off, I met a woman age 45. She had a daughter age 30, a granddaughter age 15, and a great granddaughter just born. She also had a mother age 60, a grandmother age 75, and a great grandmother age 90. In the line of maternal descent the traditon was to get married at 14 and have their first kid at 15. And for at least 6 generations the first child was female. Full term, short labor, no complications. Simply the way things were done where they came from.

I had just graduated a few years before, and was amazed at the look of some of the girls in that school. I can recall thikning to myself that I clearly was not paying attention when I was in school.

Kids don't look like kids, anymore.