Last week, we had a discussion on Polimom about Childhood and the Age of Consent. The post itself stemmed directly from the Foley scandal, and I wrote about some of the historical aspects of our current laws.
A number of readers, in both comments and email, found the subject interesting, so I though perhaps y’all would enjoy this more lengthy article, found via The Debate Link (who has an analysis, too).
It’s called Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse: Science, Religion, and the Slippery Slope, and the section titled Religious Tradition and the “Slippery Slope” is most relevant to the angle we discussed here at Polimom.
Some snippets:
One major problem with this “slippery slope” argument is that certain assumptions about our moral traditions are just plain wrong. An honest examination of the historical record indicates that Biblical law and the Judeo-Christian tradition, far from condemning pedophilia, often condoned sexual relations between adults and children. The contemporary social and legal taboo against sex with children developed only gradually over the centuries, and did not become firmly established until the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries.
From the section on Judaism:
According to the Talmud, the recommended age for marriage is sometime after twelve for females, and thirteen for males. Marriage below these ages was generally frowned upon. However, a father was allowed to betroth his daughter to another man at an earlier age, and sexual intercourse was regarded as a valid means of sealing a betrothal. The age limit for betrothal through sexual intercourse was shockingly low. According to the Talmud, “A girl of the age of three years and one day may be betrothed by intercourse.”42
And from the Christianity section (this will sound familiar from the prior post):
Christian canon law followed Roman law in setting the minimum age of marriage at twelve for females and fourteen for males. The logic behind these marital age limits was that these were the approximate ages of puberty for both genders, indicating readiness for procreation.52 In ancient Rome, among both pagans and Christians, marriage at an early age was frequent. Betrothals often occurred even before puberty, although the consummation of marriage through intercourse usually did not take place until after the girl’s first menstruation.
From the conclusion:
As for the “slippery slope” argument, the biggest mistake many social conservatives make is to assume that the contemporary taboo against sexual relations with children is a longstanding part of the Judeo-Christian tradition, which is only now coming under assault by the left. In fact, the Judeo-Christian tradition and many other religious traditions tolerated and even affirmed pedophilic relationships for centuries. The contemporary taboo against such relationships developed only a little over one hundred years ago, as people became more enlightened about the potentially damaging aspects of sexual relations between persons of unequal maturity and power.
According to the author, the protections society put into place are the direct result of liberal thought, which I interpreted as rights for children, labor laws, etc. All in all, very interesting.
So — what think ye?