Well, the issue of where to draw the line is up for debate. I don't think anybody would disagree that it should be a crime for a 25 year old to have sex with a 14 year old. However, when you're dealing with teenagers having sex with other teenagers, it's not so clear-cut and I'm not sure where to draw the line -- but it probably should be related to the age difference between the parties more than the age of the parties.

I think some states do have laws to this affect, don't they?

Yes.

Umm ok but the white upper class girls that I went to school with (and this was almost 14 yrs ago) did "hook up" on a regular with boys and talked about it openly...these were southern raised pearl wearing girls from families of "prestige" in Charlotte...they threw wild ass parties in their million dollar homes when their parents were away...they did drugs recreationally and drank..these were the same girls who got good grades and went on to good schools...some were my close friends and so I witnessed this firsthand....the point, THERE ARE HOS IN EVERY CLASS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUP!!! If you live in a bubble were this is never the case then cool but you have to be realistic at your views of society as a whole...

You do know that you're trying to make a correlation between what you and your buddies experience and what millions of others experience, right?

I agree with this. Where were the young girl's parents in all of this? I know teenagers have sex, but the whole gangbanging and videotaping...wtf? That's sickening.

I also don't think that the young man should have gotten 10 years for it. Yeah, it's gross behavior, but 10 years? Nah.

YES! I could not agree more. I was a naive innocent teen in a private, preppy college prep high school and wow more slutty behavior witnessed or heard about than in college. And the school was probably 60% white, 25% african american and 15% asian. Is more diversified now as I understand, but then the whole city is.

My interpretation of the events at that party were that it was not rape. the chick who was gang banged consented wasted... fine line comes in then as to whether she was able to consent.. but can debate that forever.

It is ridiculous to persecute peers for having sex. period.

I don't have kids. Would I want my hypothetical daughter doing that? Hell no, of course not. But it is not my decision to make.

The law is ridiculous and made even more so by its uneven application.

And I guess I have never understood how some states consider oral sex more of a crime than penetration.

I guess my point is, at some level, events that night seemed (again, from my reading) to be consensual. Misguided, sure. If is was, perhaps she said yes because she did not know how to say no--this is not that uncommon. But its a bunch of teens getting in trouble. Parents should be involved. Not jail. Oral sex with someone who initiated it and is 15 to your 17 is NOT a jailable offense IMO.

And I do tend to lean towards this being racial on many levels. And that disgusts me.

This case was on the news the other night. They interviewed the prosecutor and some of the jury pool. They all agreed that because of the way the law is written they could not consider the spirit of the law or anything else of that nature. The sentence was 10 years no matter what. All were against the sentence term, but there was nothing they could do short of finding him not-guilty and I guess the jury felt he was guilty of the crime even if the sentence seemed to harsh. It also appears that they are trying to get the legislature to change the law (more than it already has been) and possibly get his sentence reduced or negated.

You guys can talk about being naive all you want, but believe it or not, there are communities where the large majority of people don't act like this. This reminds me of people who scoff at the idea of virgin sorority girls...simply because thats not how it is where you live, doesn't mean thats how it is everywhere.

I don't think anyone is saying this happens every single where. Communities like you describe above do exist and I tend to think are more the norm--even on other levels like the teen with the secret sex life and good girl image.

I was one of the naive ones. No sex in high school for me. I knew friends were, but it just didn't even occur to me that it was an option for me. Wasn't ready and wasn't wild enough then to do somethign i'd regret. thank God.

I jsut don't think anyone at that party, regardless of gender is more to blame than anyone else. there seems to have been a whole group vibe going on and was it stupid and irresponsible? Sure. Was it a jailable offense when the crime he was convicted of was one the "victim" intiated. Tell me, what living breathing non impotant man is gonna stop a woman who voluntarily starts givng you a BJ and ask her how old she is...? Esp when they knew each other form school.

It is a dumb law that seems destined to be unevenly applied. The end.

Any guy that was raised properly and has any ounce of self respect would think about the repercussions. When I was a senior in higschool I knew plenty of girls that were much much younger than me because I had younger siblings........something tells me I wouldn't have let one of them give me head in a hotel room.

Two years is "much much younger" to you?

Of course guys make mistakes about age. However, I was very aware of how old girls were when I was in HS. You can stay out of most of this trouble by not messing around with sluts. I'm not talking about college girls who like sex, I'm talking about the teenage type who pass themselves around and let people videotape it.

One sister is 2 years, the other 4.....so yeah, it is. College and older, two years isn't that much. But when you are in highschool and two years could make the girls 15, 14, etc., I think its a little different deal.