Originally Posted by
SkulFuk
TBH it's not that uncommon, the only reason people kick off is because it's been demonized & blown out of proportion by the media. I'm not saying it's right to do it, but fact is most teenage girls are attracted to older men rather than people their own age.
The fact also is, however, that teenage girls in particular make terrible life decisions (particularly early teens - its more later teens in men) and teens in general do not have a fully formed brain (the frontal cortex is not finished development until 23 or so in most cases, studies have shown). The law stands to protect those who are incapable of making the correct decisions; most notably younger teens with their poor impusle control (alcohol abuse, poor decisions whislt driving and poor sex decisions, particularly in females) which is related to the afforementioned frontal cortex development and the large amounts of synaptic pruning that occured just before puberty (second only to that during early years iirc).
The law is pretty clear about what constitutes as rape (although I think a notable flaw in the law is that if two minors engage in consentual sex, the male will be charged regardless of age because intercourse is classified as penetration), and I would suggest that, whilst this doesnt constitute rape it is most definitely sexual assault.
It is, like you say a tad
noblesse oblige, but these laws are there for a reason, and its not solely for the demonisation of men who are attracted to young girls. That would be the fault of subjective media - most notably current affairs programs which spout bullshit every day and frankly should be taken off air as they are counter productive and partake in the propagation of misinformation in the technological age.