I was arguing with someone about the SNP's Derek MacKay texting scandal and made the comment that I found all the furore rather confusing, as the recipient of MacKay's texts was 16 and I believed the age of consent in the UK is also 16. Hay too found it somewhat confusing and wondered what all the kerfuffle was about, as it was a matter of legality and consent. In any case, he did nothing illegal and police have said there is no case to prosecute.
My interlocutor said that the age disparity between the two was of concern, to which I enquired as to why, when pederasty was quite common enough in Ancient Greece and caused no eyebrows to be raised then - it's merely social convention. I was firmly told that that was then and this is now, to which I posited that morality is merely a reflection of social taboos and society has many inputs that changes both it and its morality. While Victorians would find a view of a lady's ankle quite racy, many women today leave little to the imagination and parade around in skintight leggings. There is no absolute morality, except perhaps with the interdict on killing, and even then we still kill in war and judicial execution for treason only ended within the last 22 years.
I said I could find no problem with age disparity, to which my opponent started to attack me saying that if I found 16 year old girls attractive, then that was creepy and disgusting. I made the distinction between sexually mature girls, which by definition means women - not girls - and prepubescent girls to make my point. I was not commenting on paedophilia, which is illegal and a mental aberration. Nor was I commenting on an exclusive preoccupation with 16 year-olds, which could be considered somewhat controversial due to the power imbalance, although perfectly acceptable in some societies and not entirely a logical taboo.
I was asked if I'd feel the same if it were my son or daughter, to which the answer is of course not, as it then becomes a subjective decision based on the fact I would naturally want to protect my progeny well beyond the age of adulthood - possibly into their 30s, 40s and beyond. Parents are hard-wired to do that (or most are).
What I found attractive in young women when I was between the ages of 16 and say 19 has not changed - nothing miraculously switched off as I grew older - it's engineered into men's DNA. Why would I logically no longer find attractive what I considered to be attractive at 17? Women are actually aware of this, which is why they spend small fortunes trying to look younger - erasing lines and wrinkles and excess weight to give the impression of someone much, much younger; the younger the better. Youth is an irresistible attractant to the male of the species.
I was asked if I'd feel the same if it were my son or daughter, to which the answer is of course not, as it then becomes a subjective decision based on the fact I would naturally want to protect my progeny well beyond the age of adulthood - possibly into their 30s, 40s and beyond. Parents are hard-wired to do that (or most are).
What I found attractive in young women when I was between the ages of 16 and say 19 has not changed - nothing miraculously switched off as I grew older - it's engineered into men's DNA. Why would I logically no longer find attractive what I considered to be attractive at 17? Women are actually aware of this, which is why they spend small fortunes trying to look younger - erasing lines and wrinkles and excess weight to give the impression of someone much, much younger; the younger the better. Youth is an irresistible attractant to the male of the species.
Studies have shown that women predominantly tend to seek partners either around their own age, or up to 10 years older. Men, on the other hand, generally prefer younger women, or much younger women. This probably has evolutionary origins, but also has much to do with women having a finite reproductive lifespan, whereas men remain productive virtually throughout their entire lives.
There are outliers of course and many are the examples of very young women marrying men many decades older than themselves, but such men are usually very rich (and incredibly ugly). Money is a great attraction by virtue of of being synonymous with security - an entirely mercenary attribute, but again, one with a logical and an evolutionary origin. I need hardly mention Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch, Mick Jagger and whoever he happens to be with at the time and Donald and Melania Trump. The latter must be an absolute saint to put up with him and his millions...
While men's range of potential partners increases with age, the range of women's potential partners stays roughly the same, or even shrinks as men die earlier than women. The choice range of men, therefore, is constrained by reciprocation from women, which is probably why the woman I was arguing with found older men liking sexually mature 16 year old women creepy. Men don't find it in the least creepy.
I suggested she ask her husband whether he found them attractive - not that he would be honest. While studies have shown that 75% to 82% of men look at porn, you won't find a single man admitting that to his wife or admitting, if asked, whether he finds such-and-such actress or his wife's best friend attractive. He won't even give an honest response to whether her bum looks big in that tight dress, which she's wearing in an attempt at recapturing lost youth.
There are outliers of course and many are the examples of very young women marrying men many decades older than themselves, but such men are usually very rich (and incredibly ugly). Money is a great attraction by virtue of of being synonymous with security - an entirely mercenary attribute, but again, one with a logical and an evolutionary origin. I need hardly mention Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch, Mick Jagger and whoever he happens to be with at the time and Donald and Melania Trump. The latter must be an absolute saint to put up with him and his millions...
While men's range of potential partners increases with age, the range of women's potential partners stays roughly the same, or even shrinks as men die earlier than women. The choice range of men, therefore, is constrained by reciprocation from women, which is probably why the woman I was arguing with found older men liking sexually mature 16 year old women creepy. Men don't find it in the least creepy.
I suggested she ask her husband whether he found them attractive - not that he would be honest. While studies have shown that 75% to 82% of men look at porn, you won't find a single man admitting that to his wife or admitting, if asked, whether he finds such-and-such actress or his wife's best friend attractive. He won't even give an honest response to whether her bum looks big in that tight dress, which she's wearing in an attempt at recapturing lost youth.
Where I work is exclusively a male environment and I therefore conducted a straw poll as to whether my work colleagues found sexually mature, young women attractive, even if they were 16. I expected more honest replies than a woman might have received, as men are more open with fellow men. The result was 100% did, which was no surprise to me, but apparently would have been to the woman I was arguing with. After all, a sexually mature woman has one, overriding design purpose - to find a mate. What makes her attractive at 16 or 17 is exactly what more mature women seek to retain in later life - clear skin, lustrous hair with no grey, clear eyes and appealing curves where they matter. It's exactly the reason men will drool over an E-Type Jaguar - it has curves that appeal to a basic instinct and the designers knew this. The E-Type actually appealed to both men and women, being both feminine and phallic in shape - a perfectly sexualised car. None other than Enzo Ferrari called it the most beautiful car in the world.
I believe my opponent found it creepy because she was assuming men have the same selection criteria as women, which is plainly not the case. I wonder how much she spends on making herself look much younger than she is?
Returning to the case in question, there is the issue of the power imbalance, but events showed that the power was indeed in balance, as the elder gentleman in question resigned his position through being exposed and had more to lose. Who exposed him remains to the seen, as neither the 16 year-old in question nor his parents lodged a complaint. As an aside, Nicola Sturgeon, also of the SNP, is now the subject of rumours about her private life. Could it be that a smear campaign, similar to that against Corbyn, is being orchestrated by the Eminence Grise behind Boris Johnson's rise to power? The SNP is, after all, an existential threat to Boris.
But, back to the subject; are we guilty, as a society, of neotonising and infantilising those who, in previous generations, would have been considered fully adult? The Bar Mitzvah happens at 13, the Bat Mitzvah at 12. Other, more primitive societies than ours, mark adulthood at much earlier ages than we do.
Attack me.
I believe my opponent found it creepy because she was assuming men have the same selection criteria as women, which is plainly not the case. I wonder how much she spends on making herself look much younger than she is?
Returning to the case in question, there is the issue of the power imbalance, but events showed that the power was indeed in balance, as the elder gentleman in question resigned his position through being exposed and had more to lose. Who exposed him remains to the seen, as neither the 16 year-old in question nor his parents lodged a complaint. As an aside, Nicola Sturgeon, also of the SNP, is now the subject of rumours about her private life. Could it be that a smear campaign, similar to that against Corbyn, is being orchestrated by the Eminence Grise behind Boris Johnson's rise to power? The SNP is, after all, an existential threat to Boris.
But, back to the subject; are we guilty, as a society, of neotonising and infantilising those who, in previous generations, would have been considered fully adult? The Bar Mitzvah happens at 13, the Bat Mitzvah at 12. Other, more primitive societies than ours, mark adulthood at much earlier ages than we do.
Attack me.
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