This is where I am on the whole issue of 'sexual abuse'cases, today.

I don't think that any 'consensual acts' should be made 'criminal', but if that's the way of our society, than they should at least be dealt with re 'culpability'of each individual and not just 'how old, chronilogically, the individual(s) are!

It's cases like this where one of the minor children is able to 'skate' on the charges, where the other because he may be chronilogically older(but not intellectually or emotionally) takes the 'fall'!

I don't necessarily agree that it should be illegal. I have seen cases written up in the newspaper where a 16 yrs old boy had sex with a 15 yr old girl and now he is a child abuser!!!!!Now if he had been 26 or 36, I might agree, but not at 16!!!! I think the law should be written with a time-term in it. If the younger one (boy or girl) is still a teen under 18, then the seperation should be no more than 6 yrs. And sex with any one over the age of 13 should be de-criminalized. Yes, the older one should be punished if that person happens to be ten or more yrs older than the mate. But realistically, some young people are smart enough to want to have an older person their first few times to "learn" from them. What does a pair of 14 yr old kids know about satisfying their partner? NOTHING!!!

So let them learn from an older person. As long as it is not forced!!!! If it is forced--it is rape--PERIOD!!!!

Parents should consider giving their daughters the pill at 13 or 14 yrs of age. It is only sensible! That is unless they are looking for another baby in the house!

As a male high school teacher who once had a romance with a female student, I tend to find myself agreeing with the Times - something I seldom do. I found myself attracted to this young lady's intelligence, wit, compassion for others, as well as for her physical beauty. While she was a student at my school, she was never a student that I taught in class. We developed a rapport; still I kept my professional distance - until she initiated a romantic relationship. Though it was never consummated, it was emotionally intense and might very well have developed into a long-term meaningful relationship had the school system and her family not become suspicious and saw to it that we were kept separate.

She went on to lead a very successful and happy life in a professional career, married to a man in an age-gap relationship, exactly the same number of years apart as she and I were at that earlier time.

Isn't it just possible that some teen girls are, due to their maturity, attracted to older men and are going to pursue a relationship regardless of the setting?

Incidentally, I went on to marry a 19 year old woman who attended an entirely different school. We have been happily married for 18 years now.

This memory is very nice, very cool, a great memory in my mind.

we should make it an unlawful act when the minor is being deceived, or intimidated, or something, I mean we know that lots of women are raped and murdered, yet we do not make adult hetero sex acts an unlawful act, right?

BY THE WAY, I ENDED UP BECOMING HETEROSEXUAL, AM HAPPYLY MARRIED AND I HAVE 4 KIDS.

When age of consent laws are used to rape individuals of the right of ownership of their own body and choices, then they are just as immoral as people who prey on the young. Still, exactly when a person is able to consent or even be responsible for initiating sex is a complex issue, as in reality this differs with every individual. The ability to consent is more a result of life experiences, knowledge, and deciding what new experiences a person is willing to try or risk. Rarely does any person know the emotional or other consequences of any relationship or experience. If the consequences were known there are many bad dates, bad sexual experiences, bad adventures, and other things that would never have taken place. Once a person is past puberty, they will make their own choices as to when they feel ready to have sex as this is nature’s way, and no one should be forced to feel victimized just because they made a choice that isn't popular in society. We all own our bodies and have the right to choice when we are willing to consensually share them with another person.

It is the power that a teacher has over students that is most often the issue. With girls maturing faster than boys it still leaves the under reported male population at risk. We constantly seek to protect the innocence we are constantly destroying and to create it when it is not there. Children are children until they commit some offence and are tried as adults but are always children if they decide to have sex with an adult and there are parents who have exploited this fact when the male in a relationship reaches age 18. It is time for a complete review of our attitudes and sex laws since they carry a life sentence for the smallest to the greatest infraction.

I am glad the New York Times was courageous enough to print a story about this. I doubt we will hear politicians talking about changing the age of consent anytime soon.

First, set aside the teacher/student relationship. That should be a separate issue. Many businesses, universities, etc. have policies restricting dating between professors & students, managers & employees. Sex between family members is also not good. It doesn't matter the ages of the people involved.

The issue is how we, as a society, feel about underage sex and why we, as a society, feel that way. Does it cause irreparable harm? What data supports this? Other countries have low consent ages(Canada), even within the US there are states with low consent ages(Hawaii, South Carolina). What does the data support? Is it that society doesn't place enough trust in the youth to handle such a "monumental" decision? Yet we'll allow military recruiters to commit youth to years of military service by signing them up before they turn 18. We will try children as adults in murders because they should know the difference between right and wrong. Being schmoozed by recruiters into signing up, committing murders, these are usually emotionally based decisions by young people. Why is this exploited by some, condemned in certain situations(maybe that "child" was two months shy of his 18th birthday, good enough to try him as an adult for murder), but then used as a reason not to allow young adults to make a decision about sex. Has no one, in their adult life, slept with someone and regretted it? Did it cause you harm? Has no one, in their adult life, been hurt by a relationship or discovered they were manipulated and lied to? Did it cause you harm? If it did, how is that harm different than it would have been if you were in your teens? Is the fear that they will be manipulated or used?

We have double standards on our youth concerning what we feel they are mature enough to handle. Nobody wants to discuss this because they will be labeled a pedophile and extreme situations will be presented and scare the populace into outrage.

Most people don't want to see a 7 year old having sex with a 35 year old. How about a 17 and 19 year old? The hardest part of this issue is finding the fine line between protectionism and extremism.