So-called "barely legal" pornography and content depicting sexual relationships between step-relatives are set to be banned amid efforts to regulate intimate image sharing.
Of course. What I’m saying is a clear arbitrary line is more important than the specific morality. After all, in some cultures 16 might be more free of the power dynamics that make it disgusting. Meanwhile, some 19 year olds might be so precarious in their material conditions that their consent to an older partner while “legal” isn’t moral at all.
This is why setting a standard is important. The actual morality of any consent/sexual dynamic is bound up in so much contingency (age, class, culture) that its important to just set an arbitrary line, and people who try to skirt it need to be punished. We can’t (legally) account for all of this so it isn’t about morality it’s about positive law.
Of course. What I’m saying is a clear arbitrary line is more important than the specific morality. After all, in some cultures 16 might be more free of the power dynamics that make it disgusting. Meanwhile, some 19 year olds might be so precarious in their material conditions that their consent to an older partner while “legal” isn’t moral at all.
This is why setting a standard is important. The actual morality of any consent/sexual dynamic is bound up in so much contingency (age, class, culture) that its important to just set an arbitrary line, and people who try to skirt it need to be punished. We can’t (legally) account for all of this so it isn’t about morality it’s about positive law.