fatvegan

What happens if a 21 year-old priest has sex with a girl who is 14, but nobody finds out about it? They end up getting married 10 years later. They have children together, and build a relatively normal life. Then the police find out, and are encouraged to press charges by the media. Should the man go to jail? Maybe he should because the point about child abuse isn't that the child is harmed, but that the child is a child. I just read that the 14 year-old girl who had a relationship with one of Peter Hollingworth's priests continued the relationship with the man again later in her life. It's possible that this was because she was so damaged that she never moved on, but that definitely wasn't the impression I got. And it won't always be the case. After all, no one is saying it's impossible for a 14 year-old to have a normal sexual interest in an older person. We're just saying we don't want them to pursue it until they're older.

In this case maybe it's more important to express society's moral preferences by imprisoning the husband and father, than it is to follow the wishes of the woman and her children. I imagine there are "respectable" men all over the place who slept with their current wives before their wives were legally allowed to. Why is no one suggesting we go and find out who they are so we can imprison them? Unless we really are more interested in the crime of harmful sex with children than the crime of any sex with children.