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Thanks, Polonius.

Biologically, males *should* be attracted sexually mature females, whether they're 13 or 18.

But as a civilized society, we demand impulse control.

By definition, it's what makes us "civilized" human beings.

And the legal system here and in the UK have generally taken a pretty dim view of anybody trying to distinguish failing to control an impulse and being unable to control the impulse, but I think that just that distinction needs to become a focal point of research. If a person can avoid temptation through counseling, medication, training or deterrence, then they're more likely to be able to commingle with society, but are also far more culpable if they violate the law. If a person is simply unable to control their urges, they're essentially hopeless cases and imprisonment is essentially the only option.

The other option is for us as a society to take a more realistic view of our age of consent laws, and realize that while adults shouldn't be encouraged to pursue 14 year olds, there are instances where the the reason behind the laws (to protect children) aren't always as applicable. That statutory rape laws do some good is unquestionable, but much of the reason we have them is because we, as a society, are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of sexually active 14 year old girls, when that's often simply a fact of life.

Totally agreed on both points!

There was a case a few years ago where a high school senior (who was 18) had sex with a 'minor' (who was like 16), and it was recorded. He ended up with a long prison sentence, because the jury found him guilty of the charges. The jury didn't know the minimum sentence for the crimes, and a number of the jurors said they would have voted for not guilty because the punishment was out of proportion to the crime. iirc, the male in the case was a star athlete in high school and lost his scholarship to college, and was eventually released after several years in prison.

There is a large difference between, even a 20 year old, and a 60 year trying to meet a minor for sex. And there's a huge difference between a 13 year old and a 17 year old.

Of course, they could always just go the Ted Nugent route and get the parents to name them the legal guardian of the minor.

I remember there was a huge controversy when a then 17-year old Britney Spears appeared in a Rolling Stone photo shoot. And remember how Lindsay Lohan and Fez from the 70's show were 'suddenly' dating the day she turned 18? (btw, I think that means Fez trumps Michael Douglas for 'luckiest man alive' title).

As far as entrapment, there is a huge difference between attempting to buy child porn after receiving repeating mailings and driving to a 13 year old's house.

Again, I don't watch tCaP, but I would think if someone drove to the house, didn't get out of their car, and left, the police couldn't arrest them. While they obviously had some intent, they did stop themselves.

Interestingly enough sometime ago over here a top police man suggested that the idea of prosecuting men for under age sex needed to be looked at. I think his opinion was that a 22 year old male having sex with a consenting 14 girl, should be looked at differently than say a 42 year male doing the same thing. People forget that mother nature enables us to reproduce at a younger age than "society" is now able to deal with, myself included. From a reproducing angle, young girls would hit all the buttons of our "caveman" side. Women on the other hand are probably unlikely to have the same urges, as their natural drive is to have a man protect and provide for them... can't really see many 14 year old boys hitting those buttons

Adding to this and going slightly off message, I have to say I do believe that our concept of "civilisation" is actually leaps and bounds ahead of our natural drives & urges. We forget that basically we are still animals, and although our thought processes have moved forward we still have those animal instincts inside of us.

There's been several overly-publicized cases in the US of women in their 20's or 30's having relationships with minor males (and at least in one case, it was a 'hot for teacher' situation). I think at least one of the women had a child with her minor. It's uncommon, but it happens.

I think part of this issue is, why does an older individual want to have sex with a minor? Often, it is because there is some emotional problems with the older person. Sometimes, it's because a minor is easier to manipulate. Sometimes, it's a college freshman who's boyfriend or girlfriend is 2 years younger and still in high school.