Adult-child sex

Adult-child [...] is a term that refers to [...] activity involving adults and children. Adult-child [...] is widely considered to be an inherently abusive practice by the adult against the child; thus, the term child [...] abuse is frequently used to describe all instances of adult-child [...]. Adult-child [...] is colloquially referred to as a manifestation of pedophilia. Many pro-[...] activists consider that adult-child [...] causes no harm to the child involved.

Relation to pedophilia

The American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization both define pedophilia as attraction by adults and older youths toward prepubescent children, whether the attraction is acted upon or not. Researchers like Howard E. Barbaree have argued for a sharper focus on [...] activity over [...] attraction, asserting that the diagnosis of pedophilia only apply to those who have [...] relations with children, rather than to all who experience the desire.

Views

Mainstream view

The widely-accepted view of adult-child [...] among both legal experts and lay people is that it is an inherently abusive practice by the adult against the child. Supported by evidence from several studies of child [...] abuse victims, psychologists argue that the inability of children to provide full and informed consent to [...] acts necessarily makes all such acts abusive in regards to the child.

The American Psychiatric Association maintains the position that "children cannot consent to [...] activity with adults", and condemns the action of the adult in strong terms: "An adult who engages in [...] activity with a child is performing a criminal and immoral act which never can be considered normal or socially acceptable behavior."

A paper by David Finkelhor argued for "the importance of a stronger ethical position" than the belief that [...] with adults causes harm to children. In his paper, Finkelhor calls into question what he considers to be three common arguments relating to "intrinsic harm", "premature sexualization" and "unnaturalness" of the act, describing them as both inadequate and lacking in solid empirical footing. Instead, he draws a parallel between adult-child [...] and [...] between a therapist and a patient, stating that while there May Be cases where the patient benefits, it should still be considered wrong due to the fundamental asymmetry of the relationship.He wrote: "It is suggested that basing the prohibition of adult-child [...] on the premise that children are incapable of full and informed consent will provide a more solid and consistent approach to the problem."

Dissenting views

Those who have disagreed with the majority viewpoint include philosophers, academics, writers, and pro-[...] activists.

Author Judith Levine wrote in her controversial 2002 book Harmful to Minors that some scholars challenge the idea that all [...] activity between adults and minors is necessarily harmful. Levine clarified in an interview with USA Today that her statements referred to [...] between adults and youths of 12 years and older. The article on this interview reported that a spokesperson for the American Psychological Association stated that "there is no drive among mainstream mental health professionals or social science academics to 'legitimize adult-child [...]'", and that a representative of the book's publisher said that "the book does not advocate pedophilia."

Psychologist Bruce Rind argued in a 1998 study (Rind et al.) that not all cases of adult-child [...] should be termed child [...] abuse. This study was condemned by the United States Congress, an event which marked the first time in U.S. history that Congress officially condemned a study published in a major scientific journal.

Legality of adult-child [...]

[...] relations between adults and children are widely outlawed, although the definition of child varies greatly between different cultures and jurisdictions. Adults violating these laws are GeneRally subject to severe criminal penalties, in some cases life imprisonment or capital punishment.

The popular consensus in defining the appropriate age of consent has moved upwards in modern times, Coincident with changes in scientific and moral views of human sexuality and the psychological and social nature of childhood. In England, the legal age of consent was 10 for three centuries, until the end of the 19th century. By the turn of the 20th century, 14 to 18 had become the norm in many places, particularly Western and Western-influenced countries. In the 21st century, [...] relationships between adults and minors aged 16 to 18 are now considered legal in most countries, but legal variations exist allowing for ages of consent as young as 12 or as old as 21. A minority of countries either do not have any enforceable legal age of consent regulations, or have abolished such regualtions entirely in favour of arbitrary societal judgement and local customs. According to the 2001 Human Rights Watch World Report, in Yemen in 1999 the minimum marriage age of fifteen for women, rarely enforced, was abolished; the onset of puberty, interpreted by conservatives to be at the age of nine, was set as a requirement for consummation of marriage.

While [...] intercourse without consent is considered [...], adult's intercourse with a child below the legal age of consent, either with or without consent, is punishable under law with varying severity. In case of statutory [...], consent by the child is not considered as legal consent.

In 1977, French petitions against age of consent laws were addressed to the French Parliament calling for the repeal of several articles of the age-of-consent law and the decriminalization of all consented relations between adults and minors below the age of fifteen (the age of consent in France at the time). The document was signed by the philosophers Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as by novelist and gay activist Guy Hocquenghem, and by "people belonging to a wide range of political positions". Similar sentiments were expressed by 69 signers of an open letter published January 26, 1977 in Le Monde concerning two men accused of violating France's age of consent law.

An open letter was published in Libération in March, 1979, this time signed by 63 prominent French intellectuals, supporting a Frenchman accused of [...] relations with girls aged 6 to 12. According to the letter, the girls' "blooming shows before the eyes of all, including their parents, the happiness that they found with him."

See also

• Age disparity in [...] relationships
• Ephebophilia
• Pederasty
• Pedophilia
• Prostitution of children