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Children: The Next Sexual Sacrifice
ToogoodReports ^ | April 25, 2002 | Chad Stafko

Posted on 04/25/2002 10:15:12 AM PDT by Starmaker

A recent article in the USA TODAY, written by Karen S. Peterson, discusses the book, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex. I must admit that I have not read the book, as it is scheduled for release on May 1. However, the article in the USA TODAY highlighted some of the ideas in the controversial book. The ideas expressed in the book are greatly alarming, and should be of paramount concern for all parents.

Judith Levine, the author of the book, states that she is not completely opposed to sex between adults and children. Although she opposes all non-consensual sex, she believes that "non-consensual" is an unfair label of sex between adults and children. According to the article, she applauds a Dutch age-of-consent law that permits adult sex with a child ages 12-16 if the young person consents. Either the child or the child's parents can file charges if the sex is coerced. She and other 'experts' in the field of child-sexual abuse appear to be trying to tear down the walls of law that have been enacted in this country, which forbid sex between adults and children.

The idea that a child can even engage in consensual sex with an adult is preposterous. A twelve-year old child knows little about sex, outside of images he has seen on television or discussions he has had with his friends. This is certainly not quality information. Even if this child has received some type of sex education, whether in school or by his parents, he still has little perception of the non-physical relationship sex causes between two people. A child is hardly capable of understanding how having sex with an adult will impact her life. This is especially true if she is being 'talked into' having sex by an adult who is seemingly wiser and more knowledgeable than her.

The children of America are already being bombarded with sexual images on television shows and in magazines which are targeted to the teen audience. Watch an episode of "Dawson's Creek", preferably without your child, and judge for yourself. The program depicts young people as having the sexual maturity of a 30-year old, with the body of a teenager. Of course, this program is hardly the exception.

Spend some time watching professional wrestling. When I was a child, I loved to watch wrestling. However, the sexual innuendoes and graphic attire worn by the women was non-existent then. In fact, very few women were ever seen during a professional wrestling program. Flippant references to sex and horribly mistreating women are commonplace on such programs today.

One can pick up any number of today's teen magazines and see references to sexual activities, where not many years ago the same article space might be used to discuss kissing. Explicit pictures of a virtually naked Brittney Spears, and a host of other teen stars, also cover the magazines, further creating a culture of sex among our young people.

With the incredible amounts of sexually-explicit material making its way to the eyes of our young girls and boys, is it a good idea to let adults have sex with these young people without the fear of persecution? Certainly not. Furthermore, allowing sex between adults and children remains improper even if the child consents, which would be far more difficult to prove or disprove if children and adults were given the right to engage in consensual sexual activity.

Ms. Levine and other numerous experts have reasoned that adult/child sex does not have any harmful effects upon children later in life. Though that reasoning hardly stands up to even the slightest amount of common sense, an even broader question should be asked, "What benefits does the child receive from sex with an adult?" The answer is there are no benefits, but, contrary to Ms. Levine's thoughts, there are some monumental consequences of adult/child sex.

Imagine if adult/child sex were allowed in this country and that adults were free to have sex with children as young as twelve years old. Does anyone honestly believe this would better our society? If this were allowed, there is no doubt that HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases would grow exponentially among teenagers, as most of the adults engaging in sex with the young people would likely have many sexual partners. Furthermore, teenagers are the least likely demographic group to engage in "safe sex", which would result in an even faster spread of the diseases among teens versus any other group.

In addition, allowing sex between children and adults would cause a further erosion of negativity associated with sex among the nation's young people. Children having children remains a significant problem in our country and would only grow if these types of activities were allowed.

Finally, adult/child sex would also greatly increase the number of out-of-wedlock births in this country. Numerous studies have shown that children born out-of-wedlock have a far more behavioral problems; are more likely to live in poverty and will probably have their own out-of-wedlock children. Without question, creating more out-of-wedlock births would cause serious long-lasting damage upon our society.

For those parents, and future-parents, who are still on the bubble regarding this issue, ask yourself one question. How would you like your child to lose his/her virginity to an adult? I know my answer, and I pray it is no different than yours.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: pedophila; pedophile
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1 posted on 04/25/2002 10:15:13 AM PDT by Starmaker
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To: Starmaker
I can't even believe that the subject is being debated in polite company. Our children have enough challenges facing them without throwing in sex with adults as another "choice". Let's face it: sex between two teen-agers is bad enough and often damages the psyche of both partners (though more long-term damage is to the girl, though I have no factual basis in making that statement -- it's common sense). But at least two teen-agers are the same age, likely with the same or similar experience, both immature and, while they should refrain from sex, when they do it doesn't have the additional emotional and physical problems as adult-child sex.

Anyway, maybe I'm not making any sense, but this is sick and should be soundly rejected by society. Children must be protected from this filth. This isn't a debate to even have.

2 posted on 04/25/2002 10:21:17 AM PDT by Gophack
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To: Starmaker
A child is hardly capable of understanding how having sex with an adult will impact her life.

I found this sentence interesting.

3 posted on 04/25/2002 10:22:40 AM PDT by FreeTally
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To: Gophack
Anyway, maybe I'm not making any sense, but this is sick and should be soundly rejected by society. Children must be protected from this filth. This isn't a debate to even have.

I think that one of the problems is that people don't want to consider the facts, they want to dismiss it as "sick" and rail on about "protecting the children". As a result, those pushing the "child-adult sex is okay" propaganda can use that as ammo, claiming that their opponents don't have any factual arguments, just emotional knee-jerk reaction.

I think that the best reaction to attempts to legitimize adult-child sex is to present real facts with little emotional rage. Yes, express anger and revulsion, but don't do it when refuting your opponents -- stick to the facts to show that their arguments are really weak, don't try to get into a shouting match. They'll bury you in intelligent-sounding pseudoscience.
4 posted on 04/25/2002 10:24:44 AM PDT by Dimensio
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To: Gophack
Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!

How are they going to protect the pedophiles who attempt to have sex with my children or any children I know from recieving a severe dose of lead poisoning.

5 posted on 04/25/2002 10:26:34 AM PDT by BallandPowder
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To: Gophack
The only way this will be defeated is if we resist it strenuously at every level possible. Let's see some info about where to contact Levine, when she's appearing, who her publisher is, etc. Someone also needs to create a bump folder (if I knew how I would)...
6 posted on 04/25/2002 10:31:19 AM PDT by =Intervention=
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To: Dimensio
You're probably right. This is my gut level reaction as a mother of three young children.

However, in debates, I would simply ask the audience: Should your child be allowed to have sex with an adult even if he/she wanted to? Start there. Bring it home to people. Then, throw in facts and sound science.

However, it all goes back to whether society should be condoning or encouraging pre-marital sex, and at what age? Are there any studies done on the divorce rates for couples where one or both of the spouses were virgins? Or on the promiscuity rate compared to the divorce rate? Then we have studies on abortions (oh, yeah, the liberal pro-aborts don't keep good records, surprise surprise), increase in births, adoption, suicide, education, economic status, etc., etc.

Someone SHOULD do the research and counter this argument; I don't disagree with that. I would be pleased to quote and use it to refute this liberal witch. But there are so many factors in child-sex issues that I wouldn't even know where to start.

7 posted on 04/25/2002 10:31:46 AM PDT by Gophack
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To: Dimensio
I disagree. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
8 posted on 04/25/2002 10:33:13 AM PDT by =Intervention=
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To: Starmaker
I hate to say it, but I'm afraid this horse is already out of the barn.

Sex with minors is vastly underreported (of course it is, it's illegal) and a rapidly growing cultural trend.
As much as possible considering the legal issue, Hollywood and the elite already accept this practice
(Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and the film American Beauty come to mind right off).
There was a noticable lack of outrage when Clinton was caught with Monica, despite the fact she was less than half his age.
Youth is celebrated and much sought after, and the young don't mind marketing it. Anna Nicole Smith --- need I say more?
Cries of "homewrecker" and "cradle-robber" are still heard, but are muted and quickly forgotten.
The oldster and the youngster both get what they want --- sex and/or money, usually.

Who loses the most in this? Older men without money, homely youngsters and anyone who relies on stable family life for fulfillment.
Don't forget those feminist boomers, too --- finding a successful man who appreciates a mature woman can only get harder.

9 posted on 04/25/2002 10:45:46 AM PDT by ZOOKER
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To: =Intervention=
If the light—the true light—were dying, then I would rage.

I'm so glad that will never happen.

10 posted on 04/25/2002 10:48:16 AM PDT by Kyrie
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To: Starmaker
Bump
11 posted on 04/25/2002 10:53:11 AM PDT by EdReform
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To: Starmaker
First of all, I have a problem with anyone who criticizes a book without having read it. I haven't read it either so I'm not prepared to comment on it's supposed content.

But on the subject of children having sex, I would first like someone to accurately define what a "child" is. Is a 12 year old the same as a 16 year old? Wasn't it commonplace for people in most of the world to marry as early as age 12 only a 150 years ago? It seems as though on the one hand we keep talking about personal responsibility, but on the other we keep pushing back the age at which we expect it.

Things have obviously changed over time. An important element is that girls are physically maturing far earlier than they used to. So even as the age of marriage has been rising the age of sexual maturity is dropping, are we just going to bury our heads in the sand and say things shouldn't change when they do anyway? I don't have any sure fire answers either, but prohibition is a contradiction to personal responsibility. You can't have it both ways.
12 posted on 04/25/2002 10:56:47 AM PDT by moderation_is_not_a_bad_thing
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To: Starmaker
NAMBLA is going from state to state trying to get the age of consent to three years. ACLU is defending their websites and magazines. But consider this the government has said a twelve year old girl has the strength of character and world knowledge to consent to an abortion, it only follows that the government will say then she has the faculties to consent to sexual activity.
13 posted on 04/25/2002 11:00:38 AM PDT by roylene
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To: Starmaker
I'd like to know how many of these pro-child sex advocates would be willing to let their own children be the guinea pigs for this social experiment before they pressure the entire country to adopt their "theories" - and that's all they are at this point.

Course, I'd guess, like the Levine woman, they don't have children.

How do these advocates differentiate between pedophiles or molesters between emotionally mature adults who simply want to court a youngster with a goal toward marriage (if there is such an animal?).

John Douglas, of the FBI, writes this in his book "Journey Into Darkness":

I can't help but wonder if the attorneys of child molesters or other violent offenders are willing to let their own children befriend these guys once they get out. Will they let their own kids be the guinea pigs in some informal child molester rehabilitation study? What makes us think that once they've seen they can manipulate educated, advanced degreed, mature adults into believing what they want them to believe, that they'll stop using their influence and skills to prey on children, especially children to which they're very strongly sexually attracted?

14 posted on 04/25/2002 11:03:59 AM PDT by 3catsanadog
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To: moderation_is_not_a_bad_thing
I think you raise some interesting points, however I think the issue of contention is not over a 16 year old boy having sex with a 13 year old girl, but rather a 35-40 year old man having sex with a 13 year old girl (or boy).

Big difference in my book.
15 posted on 04/25/2002 11:08:23 AM PDT by wheezer
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To: moderation_is_not_a_bad_thing
When children married in their teens years ago, the suitor courted them, there were chaperones, the parents knew the person and asked alot of questions. They weren't running off and making out in the back seat of the family Ford. Having sex wasn't an option before marriage. The culture of love and marriage was much different then.

Kids weren't pressured by outside forces to have sex and the community protected them.

Now we send our kids off to school and they learn all about all kinds of sex activities in taxpayer funded schools.

Yes, back in the good old days, some kids engaged in sex before married, and some gals got pregnant. But not at the rate we are seeing now.

16 posted on 04/25/2002 11:12:35 AM PDT by 3catsanadog
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To: Gophack
It must be realized that the government is supportive of vice addicts(a source of votes and money); the churches are supportive of vice addicts(a source of money); your communications media is supportive of vice addiction(advertisers); business is supportive of vice addiction(avoids lawsuits-money). The majority of our population, in the main-is at best apathetic. It is up to the few. Talk, debate, discussion, different points of view, diversity, tolerance, forgiveness must end.
17 posted on 04/25/2002 11:34:27 AM PDT by HENRYADAMS
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To: Starmaker
We need to be opposed to sex between teenagers and other teenagers, too.
18 posted on 04/25/2002 11:37:51 AM PDT by ikanakattara
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To: Gophack
I can't even believe that the subject is being debated in polite company.

It isn't. It's being discussed in America.

19 posted on 04/25/2002 11:52:22 AM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: BallandPowder
Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!

You forgot the cap! My front stuffer won't go bang without a cap!

Semper Fi & Keep the powder dry!

20 posted on 04/25/2002 12:34:42 PM PDT by dd5339
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