• Glide@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    Hot take: the difference between 17 and 18 doesn’t actually matter, and the real problem is Matt Gaetz abused his position of power to coerce young, relatively powerless women into sex with him. Crossing the line of 17 vs 18 is so unimportant in this particular case. Matt Gaetz fights to maintain a system where young women have no power, and utilizes his socio-economic position in that system to sexually abuse those women. Whether she’s just finishing up high school, or in her first year of university, we’re still talking about a young women who feels like she needs that money to step forward in her life, and Matt Gaetz, and many others like him, are responsible for creating that need. To then use that need to get sexual gratification from those same young women is fucking disgusting, whether or not she’s crossed the socially dictated line of “adulthood.”

      • affiliate@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        i think the person you’re replying to is making a normative claim. they’re talking about how there really isn’t much difference in maturity/development between a 17 year old and an 18 year old. both ages are way too young for this guy, not to mention the power imbalances, etc. but you’re right that as far as the law is concerned, there is a big difference between 17 and 18 year olds.