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Chelsea Nicole Gethers

English 101
Professor Alicia Bolton
30 July 2014
Statutory Rape or Blind by Love
Every day, all around the world, someone is being sexually abused. Both men and women get
sexually assaulted. There are many and different types of rapes, but statutory rape stands out the most.
In todays society, you see a lot of young teenage girls walking around with older men and sometimes
you might think to yourself Is that her father? Is that her boyfriend? or Isnt that considered
statutory rape since shes a minor and hes an adult? Statutory rape is sexual activity involving
someone below the age of consent. People who are below the age of consent cannot legally agree to
have sex with someone who is much older than them. Sex with someone who isnt legally old enough to
agree, violates the law and the older person can serve up to 30 years in prison. However, statutory rape
is a good reason why parents, guardians, teachers, and society should talk to the young females about
diseases, teach them about sexual offenders and how to protect themselves, and protect them from
making the wrong decisions from dating guys that are 5-15 years older than them. While statutory rape
is continuing to become more of a problem each and every day, there should be laws coming from left
to right to help stop statutory rape in every state. There should also be community meeting to help one
another. With that being said, no matter what angle you may look at it from, it is still considered
statutory rape even if the underage person has a parent consent.
Some parents allow their young teenage daughters to date older men without thinking about
the consequences. They dont think about statutory rape or how it might affect their daughter
emotionally and mentally. However, there are some people in the world who feel like statutory rape is
not rape. For example, an 11 year old gang rape victim was described as a spider luring men into her
web. The New York Times covered the story reported The young female dressed older than her age,
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wore make up and hung out with teenage boys. Its not a new framing when young girl are raped.
Theyre frequently enticing adult men and painted as complicit in the attack because of their
supposed to be sexual maturity (The Nation). If a grown male adult were to ask the parents of a minor
was it okay to date their daughter, it wouldnt be okay at all, the spouse and/or friends would say the
same. However, there is nothing that states that statutory rape wasnt okay, only the fact that nobody
wants a grown man dating their teenage daughter. Essentially, statutory rape is okay, in fact the entire
process, relationship, the mental and emotional abuse, and the memories it left behind are all only
harmful and terrible and wrong to the minor to statutory rape. To others, statutory rape is barely an
issue. Rape is rape! When a girl would describe it to others they wouldnt be angry at the rape but only
at the rapists! However, being an adult and taking advantage of a minor is not okay, even if the minor
wants to be in a relationship with the adult. But rape nor statutory rape is not okay. Laws like the
Romeo and Juliet Laws have been made to help deal with situations like statutory rape and more. The
Romeo and Juliet Law is here to show that the law carve out different treatment of statutory rape
offenses involving individuals close in age and to address sexual relations for the participants that are
below the age of consent . However, not all states have adopted the Romeo and Juliet law.
Rape is no excess, no aberration, no accident, no mistake it embodies sexuality as the culture
defines it. As long as these define actions remains intact that is, as long as men are defined as
sexual aggressors and women are defined as passive receptors lacking integrity men who are
exemplars of the norm will rape women (Andre Dworkin).
If all states could get the Romeo and Juliet Law, the rape percentage will go down. Freda Adler, a
criminologist and educator who is currently serving as Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University said one
thing that stood out the most about statutory rape. Adler said It is little wonder that rape is one of the
least reported crimes. Perhaps it is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused and, in
reality, it is she who must prove her good reputation, her mental sounds, and her impeccable propriety
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(Freda Adler). This quote simply shows that some women are scared to tell authorities that they have
been a rape victim, but really, they feel mentally and emotionally abused. Another tactic that can be
used to help rape victims is counseling. While it is true that counseling can help people express
themselves and get through their hardest times, its not a guarantee that it will work all the time.
According to Orlando Sentinel, some states were trying to pass a law that allowed teens to have sex
when they want to and there wont be an age limit. This idea is not so great because that could cost the
teenagers to go out and get pregnant.
With that being said, some people dont realize the danger of letting their teenage daughters
date older men and some teenagers dont realize the consequences they might have to face because of
dating older men. Also, diseases, STDs, and more can come from being sexually active with older men.
Sex at a young age can mentally and emotionally damage a young female. If men were equally at risk
from this condition if they knew their bellies might swell as if they were suffering from end- stage
cirrhosis, that they would have to go nearly a year without a stiff drink, a cigarette, or even an aspirin,
that they would be subject to fainting spells and unable to fight their way onto commuter trains then I
am sure that pregnancy would be classifies as a sexually transmitted disease and abortions would be no
more controversial than emergency appendectomies (Barbara Enrenreich). Sexual transmitted
diseases can be contagious and very harmful to your body if you dont receive the right treatments to
heal them. This can be done by going to the doctor and receive antibiotics. Also, another way to help
bring down the rate of Statutory Rape is to have the state, community, or city to gather around and
have meetings and fight back against those who find nothing wrong with rape. This tactic is not just
about rape! Its about bringing everybody together to help society. Every hand counts and every hand
helps. This process will decrease the chance of a minor to be sexually assaulted and a chance to talk to
all teenagers about the danger of having sexual intercourse with an adult.
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Keeping that in mind, statutory rape laws can be overwhelming to girls as it denies that they
cant be sexual active. Some teenage girls can be incapable of having the mental and emotional capacity
to be able to give consent to have sexual intercourse. There are some statutory rape laws that ignore
the rights of these girls to have some to little power over their sexuality, but instead the laws define the
girls as rape victims. Some people who support statutory rape laws made an argument that
While girls may dress and act like sexy women, they are still girls. And the fact that some girls
might consent to sex which is inherently exploitive, such as that documented in the Spur Posse
accounts, is not evidence of their competence to consent, not of their womanliness, but
rather, of their immaturity and vulnerability to exploitation (Oberman 18).
This does not help protect girls, but it gives them an idea of what is really going on out here in the real
world. Just because they dress, act, look, or even talk a certain way that does not mean that they are
asking to be rape victims. Everybody has a unique way of doing thing and a unique way of expressing
themselves. Unless someone is holding up an I want to be a rape victim it is not fair that they have to
be forced, taken advantage of and mentally and emotionally abused because they look, do, dress, or act
a certain way.
Furthermore, in todays society almost everything is controlled by the government. After so
many years of the government looking into statutory rape, some people are starting to question
whether or not these laws may be concerning non-forcible sex with a minor. The people who support
statutory rape laws will always fight against the people who dont. Some people feel like the statutory
rape laws are being discriminating to boys and that it is favor towards girls. According to SJC (Supreme
Judicial Court) The statutory rape laws are gender neutral. Sex between a 15 year old boy, and his 45
year old coach is also statutory rape. Most prosecutions for statutory rape are against men and boys
because the male is usually the older party and because the male often initiates the sexual contact. The
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Massachusetts SJC has essentially ruled that this disparity in charges is evidence of sexual
discrimination (Supreme Judicial Court). Because of this view it is stated that more sexually abuse may
happen to women than men. The statutory rape law isnt being biased but just looking at some evidence
and some facts. So if a women were to sexually abuse a male minor then she shall receive the same
treatment as a man would.
Though the laws of statutory rape has gotten better, there is still more improvement to getting
better. If each state can come together and find a common law that will help and bring down the
percentage of statutory rape then the world would be more clean and better. Every citizen should put
their heads together and find a way to help the world. Counseling, meetings, anything would help.
Now should we treat women as independent agents, responsible for themselves? Of course.
But being responsible has nothing to do with being raped. Women dont get raped because they
were drinking or took drugs. Women do not get raped because they werent careful enough.
Women get raped because someone raped them (Good Reads).








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