Abso fucking lutely.

Why?

In my eyes, yeah, she did something very wrong. The fact that she was a teacher makes it even more offensive. I am the mother of a 15 year-old boy and although he thinks he's ready for sex, believe me, he is not. I don't care if they live "happily" ever after-she used that boy. The relationship is sick.

So even if the kid involved [who is no longer a kid] spends the rest of his life happy with her, and in love with her, and informing anyone who asks that he is happy, and actually is happy about what happened, it's still bad?

So, even at 50 he doesn't have the right to know what he wanted through his life?

I'm not saying this is a way to justify boning preteens, that they might, later in life, not think that it was bad.

But...

I'm saying she ABUSED him. Some people confuse abuse with love, like this kid. IT's WRONG to have sex with children. Do you see that? Or, in your mind, the end justifies the means?

Having sex with a 12 year old is WRONG. I don't care how long they are together.

It is illegal, and it is wrong. But that doesn't really answer the question of the validity of their present relationship.

This is a damn twisted, and damned interesting set of circumstances.

Imagine if the situation were reversed-a man coming out of prison marrys the woman he raped while she was a girl-the shit storm that would be! I read a newspaper article where a friend of the family says how it's "long overdo" and how great it will be to see them "finally get hitched"-! Tainted love indeed.

What is your reasoning for this? I'm not saying I think it's right; I just want to hear a reason (besides "it just is") why it's wrong.

Children are not mentally, physically or spiritually prepared to have sex. They are immature beings. An person who has little experience with the world, a person who's brain is still growing, forming new neural pathways related to experience, cannot give consent to something like sex. That is why we don't let children own guns, vote, drink alcohol or sign legally binding contracts. They DO NOT understand the ramifications of their actions. They are practicing who they are. To engage a child in sex interferes with their development as whole human beings. My son is a big kid-6'4" and 190 pounds. He may LOOK like a man, but he THINKS like a child. Wouldn't you agree that children THINK differently than adults? They live more in the "moment"? A child simply cannot give consent based upon their relative immaturity.

Drew and Adam used to say that it is taking advantage of and a violation of a certain trust between children and adults. And furthermore very much a trust relationship with a teacher involved. Children look to adults for appropriate behavior and depend on the supposedly-responsible adults to act in ways that do not prey on their weaknesses.

At what point does every child become an adult? 16? 18? 21? Is there a clearly defined line? I know some 17 year olds who are more mentally mature than 22 year olds I know. But, those 17 year olds cannot legally have sex with anyone over 17, at least in my state. Because they're not mentally capable. "Feel any different now that it's your 18th birthday?" "I feel mentally, spiritually, and emotionally capable of making decisions for myself!"

Legally mature and true maturity are different things. Yes, some 17 year-olds are more mature than some 22 year-olds. Some 12 year-olds are more mature than some 42 year-olds. It still doesn't change the fact that children are experiencing the world differently than adults and to have sex with them is predatory. Period.

Do you feel it's right for the state to decide (aka making laws) when I person becomes a spiritual or emotional adult?

Without concrete definitions, laws cannot be applied equally. And 'equally' is as close as we can get to 'justly' in the real world.