this current reaction to the subject of underage sexual relations is entirely based on societal standards.
for example, the whole talk of “pedophiles are monsters” are pretty much exclusive to the western world due to the US being on a pedophile scare craze, so much so that sitting at a playground would already give you the “child predator” label and have the police called on you.
in the eastern world, on the other hand, it’s less prominent. it’s treated as a crime, yes, but it’s not sensationalized. as an extreme example, lolicon media is legal in Japan, and some anime is stuffed with sexualized depictions of adolescent-looking girls that happen to be like a hundred years old or something. it’s all legal, because it’s not real, and there’s way less of a scare about it.
in ancient Greece, pederasty was socially-acceptable, where a man can enter a romantic and sexual relationship with a male youth. also, bottoming was shameful and would get you ridiculed, so any sex in pederasty was often intercrural (between the thighs). the whole thing really throws a wrench into the whole “ancient Greece was a gay haven” thing. shit was wild.
Sure, there is an element of social panic that harms a lot of people in weird ways and may even worsen the trauma of CSA survivors. We need to come to a more balanced view on that particular issue.
But that’s not the primary reason such acts are harmful. Sexual abuse of minors is treated this way because of a simple thing: adults hold systematic power and are in the position of authority over children (which must happen, otherwise parenthood and upbringing will break).
Thus, children do not feel free to reject the interaction, even if they are not directly forced. This leads to inability to predict whether the consent was given in good consciousness or under pressure, and children are normally not interested in sexual exploration outside basic curiosity for anything at all. As a result, they get involved in highly intimate and potentially very gross activity without adequate means and power to reject it immediately, which is potentially deeply traumatic.
As per cultures, there’s a lot of stuff that went on in different places and ages. Greece had pederasty, it also had slavery and complete patriarchy. Japanese culture is very sexually extreme and explores a lot of non-consensual sexual violence, and women are commonly targeted by perverts of all kinds etc. etc.
Just because it was or is active somewhere doesn’t mean we should do it too.
keep in mind i’ve never stated what should or shouldn’t be. all i’ve stated is that societal standards surrounding this subject have always been different between different cultures and times.
it’s kind of hard to just talk about this subject in a historical and scientific manner without there being a brigade just because there wasn’t an opinion raised on the matter in the post.
i could have started that post with “child sexual abuse is not okay imo”, but then that would have been like putting “asbestos free!” on a bag of crisps: if i am clarifying that, something fishy is going on.
i know i’m going to get downvoted for this.
this current reaction to the subject of underage sexual relations is entirely based on societal standards.
for example, the whole talk of “pedophiles are monsters” are pretty much exclusive to the western world due to the US being on a pedophile scare craze, so much so that sitting at a playground would already give you the “child predator” label and have the police called on you.
in the eastern world, on the other hand, it’s less prominent. it’s treated as a crime, yes, but it’s not sensationalized. as an extreme example, lolicon media is legal in Japan, and some anime is stuffed with sexualized depictions of adolescent-looking girls that happen to be like a hundred years old or something. it’s all legal, because it’s not real, and there’s way less of a scare about it.
in ancient Greece, pederasty was socially-acceptable, where a man can enter a romantic and sexual relationship with a male youth. also, bottoming was shameful and would get you ridiculed, so any sex in pederasty was often intercrural (between the thighs). the whole thing really throws a wrench into the whole “ancient Greece was a gay haven” thing. shit was wild.
Small yes and big no.
Sure, there is an element of social panic that harms a lot of people in weird ways and may even worsen the trauma of CSA survivors. We need to come to a more balanced view on that particular issue.
But that’s not the primary reason such acts are harmful. Sexual abuse of minors is treated this way because of a simple thing: adults hold systematic power and are in the position of authority over children (which must happen, otherwise parenthood and upbringing will break).
Thus, children do not feel free to reject the interaction, even if they are not directly forced. This leads to inability to predict whether the consent was given in good consciousness or under pressure, and children are normally not interested in sexual exploration outside basic curiosity for anything at all. As a result, they get involved in highly intimate and potentially very gross activity without adequate means and power to reject it immediately, which is potentially deeply traumatic.
As per cultures, there’s a lot of stuff that went on in different places and ages. Greece had pederasty, it also had slavery and complete patriarchy. Japanese culture is very sexually extreme and explores a lot of non-consensual sexual violence, and women are commonly targeted by perverts of all kinds etc. etc.
Just because it was or is active somewhere doesn’t mean we should do it too.
hard agree on everything said here.
keep in mind i’ve never stated what should or shouldn’t be. all i’ve stated is that societal standards surrounding this subject have always been different between different cultures and times.
oh, and an opinion that ancient greece was wild.
I see, could be misunderstanding on my end. Glad to be on the same page here!
it’s kind of hard to just talk about this subject in a historical and scientific manner without there being a brigade just because there wasn’t an opinion raised on the matter in the post.
i could have started that post with “child sexual abuse is not okay imo”, but then that would have been like putting “asbestos free!” on a bag of crisps: if i am clarifying that, something fishy is going on.