Evelyn, I changed the age to 14 because it makes the situation a little less gray, but there have been cases similar to the one Chris posted about that involved 14 year olds and younger, so it's not irrelevant.

You're correct that homophobia probably plays a role in the male-male scenario, but what I find interesting is that even those liberals who would vote the "right" way on matters like gay marriage, would probably have a similar reaction to their openly homophobic counterparts in the male-male scenario.

But even if it were possible to remove homophobia from the scenarios, the sex of the teacher and the sex of the student would both play important roles. It seems to be assumed that the female in all of these scenarios is more fragile and less likely to be predatory. The males are assumed to stronger and more likely to be predatory. What I find remarkable is that this seems to be the case in spite of the fact that we generally recognise that teenage females are both physically and mentally more mature than males.

As for my gender, I am androgynous. I hope you find this knowledge of use

Hi Niall,

Your scenerios are thought provoking and I agree with your order. The male with male would probably be the most publicly outraged because I think to a lot of people it's still the most shocking. Even though homosexuals are more out in the open in this day and age, homophobia is still so present in soceity.

I also find the double standard interesting for a male teacher with a female student versus a female teacher with a male student. You are correct, we were always taught in health class in school that girls mature faster than boys, both physically and mentally. So with this assumption, taking a boy and a girl of the same age, the girl supposedly would be the most mature (I'm sure not in every case). But yet we are more outraged about the victimized young girl. Psychologically do we have a need to think of girls as more pure and innocent or less sexual at that age than boys? Or is it just a gender difference that we assume girls are being taken advantage of while boys are gaining "experience"?

Just wondering what others thoughts are on this subject. I don't have children yet so I don't know how I would feel but I hope I would feel outraged no matter what the sex of my child.

Constance963 wrote:Psychologically do we have a need to think of girls as more pure and innocent or less sexual at that age than boys? Or is it just a gender difference that we assume girls are being taken advantage of while boys are gaining "experience"?

Just wondering what others thoughts are on this subject. I don't have children yet so I don't know how I would feel but I hope I would feel outraged no matter what the sex of my child.

It may be a macho thing...but has it not been more prevalent in the past to have older men and younger women being matched for marriage? Maybe I am wrong about that.

Another reason I can see regarding why it is worse Man/girl as opposed to Woman/boy is that a young girl can get pregnant and be left holding the bag so to speak, whereas a young boy getting a teacher pregnant has more chance of not being discovered and the impact on the boy less. No matter what, the girl has to deal with the pregnancy and thus is more a victim of this if things go that far.

Mr. P.

misterpessimistic
Another reason I can see regarding why it is worse Man/girl as opposed to Woman/boy is that a young girl can get pregnant and be left holding the bag so to speak, whereas a young boy getting a teacher pregnant has more chance of not being discovered and the impact on the boy less. No matter what, the girl has to deal with the pregnancy and thus is more a victim of this if things go that far.

True, pregnancy may play some part - I think if I was the teenage girl that the pregnancy issue would be my parents' fear. But I also think it is almost in regards to the act of sex itself....not to get too graphic...but the sense that a girl is more "violated" than a boy? If that makes sense?

Constance963 wrote:

misterpessimistic
Another reason I can see regarding why it is worse Man/girl as opposed to Woman/boy is that a young girl can get pregnant and be left holding the bag so to speak, whereas a young boy getting a teacher pregnant has more chance of not being discovered and the impact on the boy less. No matter what, the girl has to deal with the pregnancy and thus is more a victim of this if things go that far.

True, pregnancy may play some part - I think if I was the teenage girl that the pregnancy issue would be my parents' fear. But I also think it is almost in regards to the act of sex itself....not to get too graphic...but the sense that a girl is more "violated" than a boy? If that makes sense?

I can see that no doubt. Our society is male dominant and thus the woman is viewed as someone to be protected. I was just drawing in the pregnancy issue as to why the violation may mean more towards the woman.

Mr> P.

True, pregnancy may play some part - I think if I was the teenage girl that the pregnancy issue would be my parents' fear. But I also think it is almost in regards to the act of sex itself....not to get too graphic...but the sense that a girl is more "violated" than a boy? If that makes sense?

There is that, but also, from a female perspective, I think females are more emotional about sex, and would be more likely to suffer mental anguish after a scenario as described above. I can't speak from a male perspective, but I *think* that rather than feeling regret, most might feel a sense of pride.

This, however, does not explain how I feel about Niall001's imaginary situation. I also agreed with Niall001's order. I hope though, that my reaction isn't due to homophobia, but instead, due to the high level of emotion that I imagine a young boy would feel in this situation.

I agree with you. Most males would feel lucky and rather proud to have been selected by an older female for a sexual liaison. Males view it as an accomplishment and an indication of their desirability, while women tend to live their whole lives fending off the advances of oh-so-horny males. An older male pursuing a younger female is viewed as a prey / predator relationship.

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Chris OConnor wrote:I agree with you. Most males would feel lucky and rather proud to have been selected by an older female for a sexual liaison. Males view it as an accomplishment and an indication of their desirability, while women tend to live their whole lives fending off the advances of oh-so-horny males. An older male pursuing a younger female is viewed as a prey / predator relationship.

I dunno Chris, I think that there are plenty of teenage girls who seem would have a similar reaction to pulling an older man.