Is statutory Rape unethical?

Question

In ancient Greek and Roman cultures it was completely normal and expected that adults ( especially males) would have sexual relationships with people as young as ten or eleven years old. Even Joseph married Mother Mary when she was Thirteen or Fourteen. Why now is it so taboo? Do you think it should be?

Answer 1

Ok, an 18 or 19-year-old or 20-year-old  should NOT be arrested for having s*x with a seventeen year old if it was consensual.  And don't tell me that you go from being incapable of making decisions to magically capable upon your eighteenth birthday.  Such silly bullshit.

A seventeen year old is not a little girl or a baby and neither is a sixteen year old for that matter.

I can promise that everyone of us here has alteast one or two great-grandmothers or great-great-grandothers who were teenagers when they were married and had kids. (Wellll after the fall of classical greek and roman civ)

Statutory rape laws are bullshit for the most part.

Answer 2

A lot of things are taboo that were ok in Greco-Roman times, like slavery and castration. Would you argue that we should still have slaves? NO! We now recognize the rights of others as a society instead of just our own convenience and pleasure.

If you think sexual abuse in Greek and Roman times did no harm, look up Caligula and his childhood. Being a minnow to Tiberius really contributed to his madness!

Answer 3

Do you have children? Daughters? Obviously not...when and if you do, I'm sure you will understand then. If not...please cut your head off and save the rest of the world the trouble.

Answer 4

Ethics is a cultural issue, so today, in our culture, it is unethical.  Morality has absolutes, defined by God.  A child does not have sufficient knowledge and wisdom to properly raise another child or to be a good wife, these are things the scriptures say a parent should utelize.  

Actually, Mary's age is not known.  She may have been as young as thirteen depending on which opinion you follow, but she could also have been much older, there is absolutely no accurate or reliable information as to her age.  Culturally, marriage occurred later in life than it does today, it is possible Mary could have been in her 20's, 30's, or 40's.

Answer 5

We have to abide by the laws and codes from the time and era for in which we now reside. You speak of a time when

there was nothing more to life than to go to work and to get married. 13 year old girls were women then. Or perhaps

they weren't and had no say so? You have to comprehend

that in those days the women had NO rights. They were treated like and considered to be second class citizens.

So, if men had all the authority and monopolized all the control, who could say a girl was not a legal target for

some perverted child molester to marry and have his way with her? Certainly not the pedophiles who savored this

type of set-up?

But as women began to get the rights which should have already been theirs in the first place..those ages began

to elevate from 13 to 16, then to 18. It took education and

technology for many of these things to finally occur.

Is statutory Rape unethical? Do you think it should be?

Answer: I won't even entertain/dignify those 2 questions with a response.

These Rapists should stop ruining children's lives and taking away their innocence. They deserve to grow up normal

like the children they are without having to worry about some sicko snatching them up and preying upon them. Let kids be kids and find some ADULT females to have relationships with; for grown men and young girls ARE a TABU..PERIOD.

That's all I have to say about the matter.

Peace/Joy

Answer 6

Knowledge has increased!

And the times have changed!

Yes it is wrong for a adult to have a sexual relationship with a young person who has not developed pyschologically to handle a relationship of that magnitude or physically to handle a relationship with sexual relationship with an adult.  It is wrong!

Answer 7

I feel that in this day and age it is unethical. I'm not sure how you came to figure Mary's age was so young. Nowhere in her Geneology does it mention her age when she conceived Jesus. The only thing it does mention is that she lived with her parents. Also, Joseph married her because he loved her.

The Greeks and Roman cultures were perversed in many ways. They also believed in orgies and heavy drinking of wine. Homosexuality ran rampant. I wouldn't go by their way of civilization with a comparison to ours with regards to statatory rape.

This is just how I feel. I don't think it should be allowed whatsoever.

Answer 8

There are two main reasons why statutory rape exists at all.  One is the change from Christian to Judeo-Christian ethics in the last couple of centuries.  According to European Christian legal tradition a girl was 'of age' at 12 and a boy at 14.  This was a vast improvement over the Roman legal system where women had no rights of any kind apart from those accorded her from her male protector/owner.  Slaves of course had no rights, and a wealthy patrician could rape slave children of any age without any social stigma.  

The change to what we call Judeo-Christian ethics is not really religious in origin--it's class-based.  Boys and girls both married much later in the middle class than either the upper or the lower.  There's not any real religious or moral reason for it other than the middle class's superior understanding of humanity and far greater respect for individual rights and freedom.  You can look in vain for a specific Biblical or Quranic writing giving an age of consent--however it's easy enough to interpolate it when you already believe it to be true.  

If you want to disbelieve Judeo-Christian middle-class morality you're free to do so--after all that's what the whole socialist movement is all about.  All the platitudes about the non-existent 'masses' are really just a smokescreen to hide the fact that what they really want to do is treat women (or men) like kleenex and sexually abuse anything with a pulse including children and marmots.  This goes for atheists as well in general though not specifically; it's easy to be a moral atheist when you grew up in a moral milieu, but you can always ignore anything you want whenever it's convenient.  

Part of the whole problem is the definition of natural.  Natural is usually seen as a positive, especially today.  So is it natural for men to lust after girl-children? Probably, but that doesn't make it right.  Violence is natural too.  

I'm glad glad glad that this is one taboo that still remains pretty solid.  The APA and Playboy and lots of other companies and organizations (most notoriously NAMBLA) are trying like crazy to get the age of consent lowered, but so far they're not doing very well.  There have been several new twists on 'Lolita' type stories in the movies over the last couple of years too, so a faction in Hollywood appears to be on board with the anything goes crowd, hardly surprising.  If you have serious lust towards underage girls my advice is to climb a mountain and contemplate your navel.  A lot of the very sweetness, trust and innocence that is so attractive generally in the young is what gets ruined by those who take that attraction sexually and act upon it.  It  ruins lives for generations.  The middle class ideal of letting children stay children before gradually loading them up with adult burdens as they grow is superior to every other system that's been tried.  One doesn't have to believe it.  One can be a callous brutal slime, and if that's what is chosen, we can only hope that some irate father or brother or uncle gets the slime before he gets to prison.

Answer 9

It is NOT OK to have s*x with a child, ever. Any one under the age of 18 is a child. End of story.

Answer 10

We have EVOLVED. We no longer chase buffalo either! Or live in caves?

Have s*x with an adult who is physically and emotionally ready to have a sexual relationship.