What is the psychological harm done by underage sex?

[Elmbeard]

I was reading a question just now http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind...601AAOpIed about a 12-year-old lad who was seduced by his 22-year-old teacher. It said that he considered women as "sex objects" because he had "hit the jackpot" without ever having to endure the torment of dating and courtship and rejection most boys do.

Certainly the law is plain on the subject, and there is a moral taboo in society that often considers paedophilia a worse crime even than murder. Both of these create their own manufactured trauma.

Assuming for one moment there was no such taboo, and that consent was legal for those of any age, then what psychological harm would be done to a young person or even a child by engaging him or her in sexual activity, assuming too it was truly consensual (as it appears to have been with the example above), rather than by coercion or force?

Such information might be useful for those who perhaps have little respect for the law or for social taboos and conventions, and a valuable tool in rehabilitating or counselling paedophiles, or philanthropic disc jockeys for that matter (and no legal action was taken against him during his lifetime).

[Yorrik]

Yeah! And where was she when I was at school?

And on the subject of the male and his attitude towards women in general. First of all a boy is in the care of a woman, his mother. Then around come that tribe of the bossy aunts. Then he goes to school at about age 5 - they won't let him be a boy because boys want to climb everything and play rough games,

Soon the boy begins to resent what's happening to him - he is slave of women and not a free man.

All the women I've ever known have been either plain bossy or just control freaks. And, if you put them in charge of anything, they do enormous amounts of damage.

Margaret Thatcher a prime example - the most evil witch ever in English history and still hated by the people.

London UK 220113.1155

[hollowlumber614]

Hi think of the trauma of a girl who has become pregnant and has a child of her own she is not emotionally capable of dealing with care of a child as being a child herself. she has enough difficulty dealing with her own growing up and the pressures forced on her by society as it is. without such an extra burden of caring for another human being. when most of her peers are off partying she has to tend to her own off spring.
so get a grip lad so the idiot who was seduced thinks he has it cracked boy is he in for a shock as he has not encountered a devious woman similar to the one who seduced him she will have womanly wiles far in advance of his tender years.
that is the sort of stupid statement one gets from the less intelligent in society.

[corncrake]

If you take into consideration the way of childhood being seen as an inconvenience these days by ever increasing numbers of kids because of the way the media,peer pressure and easy access to stuff via the web that'll never in a million years previously be ever seen by an average joe 22 year old let alone 13. Teenagers now expect their first sexual experiences to ape hard core porn films and if you've got that exposure so young,throw in alcohol,cigs and freedom then these people will swarm round like bees on honey.

The reason why all these cases from the past are surfacing now is that there was a shift in views during the last 30 years if you watch some tv shows from the 70's you cringe at the references and attitudes because they are unpalatable now. The over riding sense of shame and hopelessness for want of better words are highly likely as if they told people would label them as slags/liars and the fact that nobody cares to note or intervene.

[narrowgoose317]

I suspect the evidence would be hard to find if you want to isolate psychological factors.

There have been a number of studies done seemingly about how early sexual activity affects later outcomes, but there are so many variables I fail to see how any could be reliable.

There are two examples here, note that the second is from the US Heritage Foundation and is likely to have a family orientated right wing religious bias, the first appears contradictory.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/s...435&page=1

http://s3.amazonaws.com/thf_media/2003/p...charts.pdf

There really are multiple problems if want a model where social factors such as poverty, associated drug and alcohol misuse, and vulnerability to STDs and pregnancy are excluded, which all appear in studies on early sexual activity, not to mention the emotional quality of relationships, whether rejection is involved, even if the relationship is consensual it may be controlling if one of the partners is older (although of course this can happen in similar age relationships), etc.

So you’re asking whether a consensual relationship without any of the negative factors would cause psychological damage, pretty difficult to prove, but in my opinion if you want some guesses it could.

Firstly, I suppose I believe that sex is something for adults, not children, having a sexual relationship even if contraception is used implies in some way that the parties are sexually, physically and emotionally mature enough, and have acquired the social and economic position, to become parents by implication.

Secondly, even if the sexual relationship is not harmful in itself, might it take the focus off things that are more important to do at that age. Again possibly, yes, adolescence is a time when we should be able to develop our potential fully to take our place in society eventually as people able to find a meaningful (and preferably paid) occupation, the ability to form a meaningful loving relationship with someone at some point, and to find and enjoy some meaningful leisure pursuits, preferably to sustain through the inevitable ups and downs of life.

I’m not sure if early one-to-one relationships help with this, maybe mixing generally in peer groups, single sex or mixed, and getting on with education are more important, although they don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

No real evidence but I have a gut feeling that early sexual relationships might be best avoided for the above reasons.