Reply #11: I'm going to get totally blasted for this - but, not to justify sex with

[BR_Parkway]

minors in the least bit - I do agree that there should be a sliding scale based on the actual age. There are plenty of 15yo's that can pass for 20 something.

There's also the fact, from an evolutionary standpoint, that puberty readies the body for procreation in the early to mid teens (not mentally I know). This is probably some response to much shorter lifespans - my grandmother had her first child at 14. Somewhere along the way the age of consent in many states has been raised to the current 16-18yo range - but changing the wording of the law doesn't change the physical characteristics of the body. What is illegal now was for the most part opposite 50 years ago - if they weren't married off having babies by 14-15, they were destined to be 'old maids'. The males were generally older (mid 20's) simply because they worked to build up a nest egg to start out with - easy credit and no down mortgages weren't a part of the picture.

So perhaps the large number of 'perverts' (outside of those freaks into really young children) isn't so much a reflection may in part be a natural reaction but the laws have changed to make it illegal.