Ok, this would normally be reserved for the rants section, but I’m not in the mood to play with code today so I’m going to rant here instead.
If you want to read the entire rant, please click on “Read more” at the bottom of this post.
As some of you may know, there’s been a lot of local publicity lately regarding a case about a 14 year old girl meeting with a 38 year old man in some motel. Charges were given and then dropped as the age of consent within Canada is in fact 14. The big hoopla around town is that this is such a huge tragedy and awful thing to happen, etc. I’m reading the Times Transcript and seeing some of the things people are saying, and to be very blunt, at 14 years old, in our world, having sex is common.
“I remember (at age 14) babysitting and playing with dolls” is one of the quotes given in the article.
“She’s a baby,” said Barbara Alcorn. “I’m thankful I’m not in his shoes.” referring to the man who committed this horrible act.
In 2004, being 14 doesn’t mean you sit at home and play with Barbie’s all night. You’re in high school, with major things going on in life and teenagers are a hell of a lot smarter than the parents and adults give them credit for.
In all of the press, they talk about how the man is a sicko, and how could he do this, and he took advantage of her, etc. The fact is, no one has breathed a word about what the girl said. The few pieces that I have been able to read indicate she was fully aware of his age, and fully consensual regarding the sexual act she was getting into.
No she’s not an adult, but people are treating this like she’s a 4 year old girl who’s been raped. Yeah, it’s pretty appauling to think this 38 year old man drove 1000kms to meet up with a 14 year old girl and it is pretty raunchy, but that’s beside the point. She knew all along how old he was and was completely willing to go through with it.
Facts are facts people. 14 year old kids are having sex, doing drugs, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol. No this doesn’t apply to all of them but it’s in the atmosphere and around them. It’s quite common and so kids are exposed to this on a day to day basis. It’s not like it was 50 years ago when it was never spoken of or even heard of to those kinds of things, and I think a lot of parents still think like it’s 1950.
Personally, it just irritates the hell out of me to see people talk about someone as if they are a tiny little child when in fact they are far from it. You hear about these kids in high school having lots of sex and being care free and yet somehow they are supposed to be these innocent little kids? Uhm, no. It ain’t like that.
Anyway, at 14, a teenager knows damn well what having sex is, what it’s about, and what being taken advantage of is. I don’t see her as being any kind of victim but her own stupidity. If she knew he was 38, and wasn’t interested in anything, she should have told him so and never had the meeting. But she made her own decision, and now everyone’s pissed because the government thinks 14 year olds are smart enough to have sex.
Makes it sound an awful lot like the parents want the government to give them excuses to run their kids lives for a longer period of time.
