Reply #29: A 15 or 16 year old girl might not feel like a victim either. [View All]

And in fact, might not be. But the reality is that people automatically assume, without any basis on the facts of the case, that any boy who has sex with an older woman "wanted it," and that any girl is a helpless victim.

You have no idea how these boys felt about what happened with this woman, or whether they'll be emotionally harmed later on. But this sort of thing still persists, perpetuating the myth that boys and men can't be sexually abused, and that women can't be sex offenders, no matter what the facts are. That is the double standard.

Imagine the outcry if it were turned around, and it was assumed that a 41 year old man having sex with a 16 year old girl was inherently okay because the girl would enjoy it.

Now back in the world of practical reality, in cases like this where an adult is having sex with a teenager, there's rarely any clear lines to be dealt with. These boys may well have had a great time without any negatives, or they could easily have been manipulated and used. The same applies to a girl. What's really a shame is when people make assumptions about these cases without knowing anything more than a news headline and maybe a photo of the adult.