Culture Shock
This will date me pretty nicely, so I can right away say I am part of the late baby boomer generation.
One or two decades ago I would have laughed at the idea that we might get statutory rape laws over here in Europe the way they are in the USA. Sure, it always was forbidden for teachers/instructors of any kind to dally with students/dependants.
But in my year and a couple of those following mine we had no compunction at all to seek out older lovers. Mine never were closer than 6 years difference, at the very least. I was 13 when I started exploring sexuality and 15 when I lost my virginity. Not to a man several times my age, but yes, one quite a few years older. Indeed, all of my lovers before my 20th birthday were that much older than me, that they would today fall under "quite illegal!" and in the USA they'd be in prison, had our affairs become known.
It was never an issue for us. Not one of us ever felt coerced by boys or men. We all started making out around 12-13 and most of us lost their virginity with 15-16. Only the ultra-conservative, religious-nutter girls didn't (and usually ran into bad trouble along the way). We were well instructed, given compulsory COMPREHENSIVE sex-ed, access to free contraceptives if needed, access to parent-free ob gyn visits, access to free knowledge as we wished. None of the boys and definitely none of the older males saw fit to put any sort of pressure on us girls, they all also had learned how things were and had to be. Hell, I toured Southern France alone with my else all-male rock group for two weeks, none of the guys below twenty, and I felt and was absolutely secure.
We had no teen pregnancies in my or the other high schools I knew, with one exception - a girl came back from a one year stay in the USA and promptly got herself pregnant on return. No others though and at the time the general teen pregnancy rate was below 1,5%. There were no cases of molested or raped high school or college girls, that is none by fellow students. We had our wild parties, alcohol included, yet always, definitely always a no was a no. And we all knew whether or not we wanted to say no or yes.
Things have changed since then, not to the better. Friends who are in the teaching business tell me. With the advent of severe budget cuts and the recent backlash of conservative and Christian values washing over to Europe from the USA, including our politicians buckling to US-led demands for statutory rape laws and a heightend age of consent, allegedly necessary to combat child porn (what utter drivel!), but in reality only tightening the screws, things spiral downwards.
In this respect it goes against my grain every time I read hapless Americans heeding and applauding such stuff, obviously without the slightest idea that more freedom and more knowledge is the answer, not more restrictions.
One or two decades ago I would have laughed at the idea that we might get statutory rape laws over here in Europe the way they are in the USA. Sure, it always was forbidden for teachers/instructors of any kind to dally with students/dependants.
But in my year and a couple of those following mine we had no compunction at all to seek out older lovers. Mine never were closer than 6 years difference, at the very least. I was 13 when I started exploring sexuality and 15 when I lost my virginity. Not to a man several times my age, but yes, one quite a few years older. Indeed, all of my lovers before my 20th birthday were that much older than me, that they would today fall under "quite illegal!" and in the USA they'd be in prison, had our affairs become known.
It was never an issue for us. Not one of us ever felt coerced by boys or men. We all started making out around 12-13 and most of us lost their virginity with 15-16. Only the ultra-conservative, religious-nutter girls didn't (and usually ran into bad trouble along the way). We were well instructed, given compulsory COMPREHENSIVE sex-ed, access to free contraceptives if needed, access to parent-free ob gyn visits, access to free knowledge as we wished. None of the boys and definitely none of the older males saw fit to put any sort of pressure on us girls, they all also had learned how things were and had to be. Hell, I toured Southern France alone with my else all-male rock group for two weeks, none of the guys below twenty, and I felt and was absolutely secure.
We had no teen pregnancies in my or the other high schools I knew, with one exception - a girl came back from a one year stay in the USA and promptly got herself pregnant on return. No others though and at the time the general teen pregnancy rate was below 1,5%. There were no cases of molested or raped high school or college girls, that is none by fellow students. We had our wild parties, alcohol included, yet always, definitely always a no was a no. And we all knew whether or not we wanted to say no or yes.
Things have changed since then, not to the better. Friends who are in the teaching business tell me. With the advent of severe budget cuts and the recent backlash of conservative and Christian values washing over to Europe from the USA, including our politicians buckling to US-led demands for statutory rape laws and a heightend age of consent, allegedly necessary to combat child porn (what utter drivel!), but in reality only tightening the screws, things spiral downwards.
In this respect it goes against my grain every time I read hapless Americans heeding and applauding such stuff, obviously without the slightest idea that more freedom and more knowledge is the answer, not more restrictions.