Thanks are due to Laytoya Peterson who posted at length on Racialicious about being harassed by grown men when she was as young as 12. She captures very well the terror and helplessness such an unequal situation creates and demonstrates why statutory rape laws exist.

I did not read the original comments that generated her response, but apparently mock-ups for PSAs against statutory rape were greeted with a lot of comments on feminist blogs about girls misleading men about their ages by acting older than they were. So I’m really grateful to Peterson and Racialicious for bringing some clarity to the matter. As she tells us with piercing precision, the tendency to blame the women in these cases is as misplaced as it is in all other rape cases.

The fact of the matter is while we would like to think that men are only attracted to teenage girls because they don’t know better, the reality is that the men who are willing to court someone drastically younger than they are is because that’s what they want. Some people say it is because they can’t deal with the requirements of adult relationships. Others will say it’s because young girls are dumb in the ways of the world and end up being easy pussy.

Either way, adult sexuality is not something for a child to handle.

She suggests a three pronged approach to attacking the problem of men preying on teenage girls. Go read the post for more details about how you can be part of the solution.

1. Awareness
2. Community Action
3. Take an interest in the young girls you know.