Yes, Minors are robbed of autonomy by the patriarchal family. Yes, They should be afforded more freedom over themselves and their lives.
This is no way justifies romantic or sexual relationships between an adult and a minor.
Even within a society where a child and an adult are on completely equal grounds in terms of rights and power you still have the massive gap of years of knowledge, experience and both physical and mental growth the adult is going to have over the child. This makes abuse and coercion on the side of the adult extremely easy. This isn’t even covering the awful effects this type of relationship can have on a child’s mental health. The power imbalance is inherent.
To address the second comment. This is absolutely not the case. It’s often the very institutions and systems that oppress minors that lead to them being sexually abused. The whole “haha priest touch little boys” “”“” joke"“”" is literally born of the power adults have over children in institutions such as the nuclear family, churches, schools etc.
A point I bring up in these conversations is that a reason children are so commonly the target of sexual assault isn’t because paedophilia is rampant but because children are easy, accessible targets who are less likely to be taken seriously and have less direct power to fight back. The same reason why poor and/or disabled women, trans people and sex workers are common targets of sexual abuse while we have laundry lists of bourgeois, white cis men who got away with years if not decades of sexually abusing people. They exert material and therefore social power over these groups. It is in the material interests of those who wish to sexually abuse children to uphold this system. Actual paedophilic attraction or not.
Those with genuine paedophilic attraction NEED to have nonjudgmental mental health services available to them because there is simply no consensual way to fulfill their desires. A minor simply cannot be trusted to make a clear, uninfluenced decision that fully understands the implications, risks and possible harm in a situation where they are being asked by an adult who they are likely trying to appease. Will you have cases where they grow up and not regret or be hurt by it? Sure. But the majority ARE deeply hurt by these experiences and it was still built on imbalance and misuse of power regardless. Paedophiles are in no way evil for desiring something that’s unable to be practiced in a way that doesn’t unconsensual harm someone, but the issue there is stopping those wants becoming actions.
Yes, Minors are robbed of autonomy by the patriarchal family. Yes, They should be afforded more freedom over themselves and their lives. This is no way justifies romantic or sexual relationships between an adult and a minor. Even within a society where a child and an adult are on completely equal grounds in terms of rights and power you still have the massive gap of years of knowledge, experience and both physical and mental growth the adult is going to have over the child. This makes abuse and coercion on the side of the adult extremely easy. This isn’t even covering the awful effects this type of relationship can have on a child’s mental health. The power imbalance is inherent.
To address the second comment. This is absolutely not the case. It’s often the very institutions and systems that oppress minors that lead to them being sexually abused. The whole “haha priest touch little boys” “”“” joke"“”" is literally born of the power adults have over children in institutions such as the nuclear family, churches, schools etc.
A point I bring up in these conversations is that a reason children are so commonly the target of sexual assault isn’t because paedophilia is rampant but because children are easy, accessible targets who are less likely to be taken seriously and have less direct power to fight back. The same reason why poor and/or disabled women, trans people and sex workers are common targets of sexual abuse while we have laundry lists of bourgeois, white cis men who got away with years if not decades of sexually abusing people. They exert material and therefore social power over these groups. It is in the material interests of those who wish to sexually abuse children to uphold this system. Actual paedophilic attraction or not.
Those with genuine paedophilic attraction NEED to have nonjudgmental mental health services available to them because there is simply no consensual way to fulfill their desires. A minor simply cannot be trusted to make a clear, uninfluenced decision that fully understands the implications, risks and possible harm in a situation where they are being asked by an adult who they are likely trying to appease. Will you have cases where they grow up and not regret or be hurt by it? Sure. But the majority ARE deeply hurt by these experiences and it was still built on imbalance and misuse of power regardless. Paedophiles are in no way evil for desiring something that’s unable to be practiced in a way that doesn’t unconsensual harm someone, but the issue there is stopping those wants becoming actions.