[William A. Baurle]

John,

No, I certainly don't think the balls of fire guy, Edgar A. Poe, Elvis the Pelvis, or any of those guys who married very young women, sometimes their cousins, were rapists, pedophiles, or any of that.

I had an acquaintance once who was accused of statutory rape by the father of his girlfriend, who was seventeen. He was nineteen or twenty, can't remember. I don't recall how the case went, or if it even went to court, but everyone knew that this was an instance of an irate father who didn't like that someone was diddling his daughter.

Certainly, the age of consent is largely arbitrary, and the best we can do. It's not like someone is an ignorant dewy-eyed kid one day and a responsible adult the following day, when they turn that magical 18, or 16, where ever one happens to be.

I felt guilty complimenting a 20 year old young lady I worked with, even after she had showed me a list of the twenty or so people she had had 'relations' with. Yes, she kept a list. Another co-worker jokingly, but bitterly, called me a 'cradle-robber' and yes, a 'pedo', because I had had the unmitigated audacity to find a 20 year old woman attractive, and the intolerable indecency to tell her so. Of course, I had it coming because I told this young lady how adorable she was a lot, and this habit of mine was quite bothersome to the other ladies.

Nevermind the fact that I never asked her out, never saw her outside of work (except for one occasion when the entire department went bowling), and never made a suggestive or off-color remark to her. I no longer work with her but we remain good friends to this day, if only through Facebook.