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Double standards

2006-07-13 15:16:34.680512+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

Consensual sex with a 14 year old in the United States and you're a child molester. But if you rape and kill a 14 year old in Iraq, the news will call her a "woman" (via Medley).

And to follow up the "why are national ID cards a bad idea?" thread, Iraqis turn to fake IDs as protection (via Dave's Picks).

[ related topics: Sexual Culture Current Events ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2006-07-13 17:01:03.030281+00 by: warkitty

Because 14 IS a girl. Calling her a woman is a way of minimizing what the men did to her so we can keep pretending to be the good guys.

#Comment Re: made: 2006-07-13 20:11:01.131027+00 by: Mark A. Hershberger

Calling her a woman does not minimize the rape.

14 is not a "girl". for most of human history, women were starting families by that age and men were working.

#Comment Re: made: 2006-07-13 20:44:26.703029+00 by: Dan Lyke

I'm not sure that 14 is a girl, certainly in this country we've put the social expectation that they're children on 14 year olds, but I've also expressed the opinion on this site before that the U.S.'s notion of "age of consent" and such is way messed up.

However, I do think that this is an attempt (even if not a conscious one) to gloss over the crimes of the servicemen in question. Rapists and murderers survive in prison. Child molesters have a rougher time of it.