LETTING THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG:

How Young Is Too Young? (Thaddeus Russell, 10/01/09, Daily Beast)

When I taught "Introduction to American Studies" at Barnard College, I asked my students a question that made me "Enemy Professor No. 9" on the conservative Free Republic website. Roman Polanski's recent arrest reminded me of the public condemnation I received for asking that question: who is too young to have sex with an adult? [...]

Most often my students argued that sexual relations between an adult and a child (whom some defined as anyone under 18, some under 16, and others as the "emotionally immature") necessarily involved the manipulation of the weak by the powerful, which was wrong. But then, I asked, why was it acceptable for adults to cajole and at times physically force children to play sports, wear hipster t-shirts, attend church, wash the dishes, listen to "good" music, obey authority figures, or, as the president of the United States told them directly, to take responsibility for "nothing less than the future of this country"?

That's probably what passes for a devastating argument in his social circles, but even many 13 year old girls could explain to him the difference between the things we encourage children to do for their own well being and the things pedophiles do to them for their own pleasure.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 1, 2009 2:35 PM