Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in 1977: consent violation or not?
I posted the following comment in response to comments posted here, regarding Carrie Fisher's recent admission of an affair with Harrison Ford while she was roughly 19 years of age: see here for the details on that.
I was rather disgusted by several of the comments, some of which were along the line of, "It was the 70s and everyone f*** everyone! Who cares!".
If consent was dubious, it was dubious. Or so it would seem to me.
My comment (for some reason it wouldn't post over there, it apparently got marked as spam):
Yeah given the comments I've seen so far I know I may regret commenting here.
Here are some references referring to scientific research suggesting that an 18-19 year old brain is simply not at the same maturity level as that of a 34 year old:
"Most of the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood are legally granted by the age of 18. That's when you can vote, enlist in the military, move out on your own, but is that the true age of maturity? A growing body of science says, no. That critical parts of the brain involved in decision-making are not fully developed until years later at age 25 or so." (From this reference, which is an interview with a neuroscientist discussing recent research in the field: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164708)
See also the following:
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892678/
(2) https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/index.shtml#pub7
Now, I will grant you that this was not known at the time. However, I would argue that, when I actually *talk* to someone of this (i.e. young) age I can tell that there is a certain... lack of maturity there. I mean, if I give a damn about ethics, I don't need a scientific manual to tell me this.
Also, there is the additional dimension of substance use. As Fisher herself notes, she was 'wine sodden' during their first encounter, for instance, which adds another dimension to the discussion of consent: could she really consent if she was under the influence?
(Comment slightly edited to fix crappy grammar because I'm a loser.)
I was rather disgusted by several of the comments, some of which were along the line of, "It was the 70s and everyone f*** everyone! Who cares!".
If consent was dubious, it was dubious. Or so it would seem to me.
My comment (for some reason it wouldn't post over there, it apparently got marked as spam):
Yeah given the comments I've seen so far I know I may regret commenting here.
Here are some references referring to scientific research suggesting that an 18-19 year old brain is simply not at the same maturity level as that of a 34 year old:
"Most of the privileges and responsibilities of adulthood are legally granted by the age of 18. That's when you can vote, enlist in the military, move out on your own, but is that the true age of maturity? A growing body of science says, no. That critical parts of the brain involved in decision-making are not fully developed until years later at age 25 or so." (From this reference, which is an interview with a neuroscientist discussing recent research in the field: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141164708)
See also the following:
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892678/
(2) https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/index.shtml#pub7
Now, I will grant you that this was not known at the time. However, I would argue that, when I actually *talk* to someone of this (i.e. young) age I can tell that there is a certain... lack of maturity there. I mean, if I give a damn about ethics, I don't need a scientific manual to tell me this.
Also, there is the additional dimension of substance use. As Fisher herself notes, she was 'wine sodden' during their first encounter, for instance, which adds another dimension to the discussion of consent: could she really consent if she was under the influence?
(Comment slightly edited to fix crappy grammar because I'm a loser.)