The Huff Post and and few other internet media places has a rather misleading headline yesterday that got some chatter. That is “Kaitlyn Hunt, Florida Teen, Faces Felony Charges Over Same-Sex Relationship” . Now that is true but what is left out of that headline is crucial.
For that see this legal blog post on this story Statutory Rape of 15-Year-Old by 18-Year-Old.
I find this interesting on several fronts because I of a age to see how attitudes have changed on this at tad. This was not so uncommon as might think back in my younger years. Also if the parents objected often this was handled a lot more quietly and often no charges were filed.
However times have changed and the messages seem conflicting. Its now viewed as silly by many to try to keep your kids away from sexual activity. Further we also have made teen much more sexual beings in our culture. However we also have in the last 20 to 30 years slowly raised the age of consent for teenagers to have sex. It really does not take I think a Master's Degree to realize these conflicting trends were going to cause a problem.
In many ways I am feel for Kaitlyn Hunt since to be honest I am not sure all boys that finds themselves in the same situation should be labeled a sex offender all their life. However this happens all the time ( and please note in these cases mistake about the girls age is not a defense). So I am a tad amused about the sudden uproar. Where has it been for boys.
Would there be " outrage " is this had been a girl boy situation. I suspect not which makes the politics of this pretty interesting.
As the above link shows maybe its the possibility that the girl can't get pregnant. Maybe some same sex relationships different than hetrosexual teen ones which is indeed ironic because of the talking points we have heard recently.
I agree with you. What difference does it make if they are same sex or heterosexual? Anyone with half a brain, including teenagers should know that an 18 year old fooling around with a 15 year old is statutory rape. They should be treated no different.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole statutory rape thing is a crock when dealing with a specific age difference. To brand someone a sex offender, for life, because they did something stupid as a teenager is wrong. Then again, we're dealing with a zero tolerance society. I have no tolerance for zero tolerance - BTW.
When a kid is 15, that's a little young. Anyone who is 18 - male or female, ought to know that. What ever happened to parents who told their kids to just say no or I'm going to 'kill you' (figurative) when you get home. That's what mine did. It worked. When we were grown my mother said 'I thought you knew if something happened, we would work through it."
Nope - that's not what we took away from it - so we stayed out of trouble. There are times when I think parents just don't want to bother being parents.
This one bothers me. Just because it is same sex - female, doesn't mean that a woman cannot be as much of a predator as a man can be. I've also seen and know of 15 year old girls who are more predatory than any 18 year old guy could possibly consider being.
It's a tough call. We're dealing with Florida. If the 18 year old in question came from a family with money, we wouldn't even be hearing about it. I'm 2nd generation Florida - I know how it works there.
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
Consent gets tricky, and many states have an exception to their age-of-consent statute for parties who are within a couple years of each other in age.
ReplyDeleteBut there's no reason why it should be handled differently than the case of any other adult with a minor.
We want equal rights, we've got 'em. Got to jail, do not pass go.
I agree this should be treated no different than a hetero relationship, however I am generally wary of sex offender status. Some crimes may warrant such a status, but in this situation where a relationship went from legal (17 yo and 15 yo) to overnight illegal when the older girl turned 18, it seems way too extreme. I have even heard stories of people at least threatened with sex offender status where they were intoxicated and urinated in public. Again, too extreme.
ReplyDeleteI do think you are wrong on one point. I think most states have lowered their age of consent in the past 20-30 years, not raised it. If memory serves me correct, when I graduated high school in California in the early 90s the statutory rape rule was that sleeping with a minor (under 18) was a crime. If both participants were under 18, then the older participant was charged. I'm sure this has since changed.
Mississippi also changed its rule. In the early 90s it was under 18 with prior chaste character. Now it is structured to take into account closeness in age of the parties, however it is perfectly legal now for a 60 year old man to sleep with a 16 year old girl, provided he is not in a position of trust (eg police officer, clergy, teacher, etc). I don't think most people know that is the law, but it is definitely more libertine than it was 20 years ago.
I'm sorry, but a less than four year age difference between two teenagers should not be a felony, whether male or female, gay or straight.
ReplyDeleteIts a very trickky situation that is for sure
ReplyDeleteI'm now reading where the girl was 14. That's a big difference. If so, 14 is still something of a child. I would list it as as rape and have the 18 year old male or female take on a 14 year old is not good at all. I would have her listed as a sexual predator. If it were an 18 year old male, I'd have him arrested for this. The 18 year old female should get the same treatement.
ReplyDeletehttp://althouse.blogspot.com/2013/05/update-on-case-of-18-year-old-lesbian.html
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
Why don't you just kill the lesbo? She a freak predator anyway. I don't want my tax dollars housing a sex freak.
ReplyDelete