Jack: "More than five years between sexual maturity and sexual legality, and people act surprised that there's a problem?"

I think it's not merely about the media either - the *objectifying* of women is an issue yes, but the physiological reality of sexual awakening in young teens is a reality. We can't have a blanket either / or situation for young sexually developing individuals, where *ta da* all of a sudden a girl is a sexually mature woman and legitimate 'game' V's itty bitty children who have no awareness of their developing bodies and sexual desires.

I began to be aware of some sense of my own sexuality by the age of seven or eight. I didn't know what that awareness was then, but it felt strange and magical like forests at night or something. By twelve my best friends were exploring that awareness by having sex with members of the opposite sex who were (approximately) peers.

My own feeling is that we should make allowances for teen peers naturally exploring their developing sexuality with each other, without the dangers of EITHER being deliberately preyed upon and manipulated by far older adults with a specific sexual fetish for children/pubescent teens OR suddenly being launched into full sexual maturity where they are supposed to know and succesfully manage all the social and sexual rules of engagement between adults overnight.