[Freedom56v2]

One thing that has been left out of the discussion is how dating...or courting has changed in the last 40 years.

Also how marriages have changed.

It wasn’t too long ago the men would be 5-15 years older than their wives.
It wasn’t too long ago...especially in the South were a young lady was considered an old maid if she wasn’t married by the time she was 20.

Google: History age of consent in US.

In the 1880’s it used to be 10 or 12 year olds who could consent...So someone looking to date a girl in 1970 or early 1980’s who was 14, 16 or 17 ...now looks a bit weird...But back then...it wasn’t weird at all.

With these facts in mind, it makes a lot more sense for a young man in his 30’s to be noticing and even dating a teen...especially wth the consent of the girls mother or father.

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Sorry to disagree, but seriously, I was a teen in mid 70s and my parents would have had a fit had a 30-something man come to the door for a date.* No way would he ever have returned if he had gotten an earful and evil eye from my rather authoritarian father LOL.

“In the 1880’s it used to be 10 or 12 year olds who could consent...So someone looking to date a girl in 1970 or early 1980’s who was 14, 16 or 17 ...now looks a bit weird...But back then...it wasn’t weird at all.”

Sorry, in the 1970s, girls under the age of 18 were referred to as “jailbait” in my circle of friends.

There are many angles to this story, but I don’t agree with the idea that in the 70s it was OK for a 30-32 year old to date an 18? year old...I have seen a few others who feel this should be included in the discussion, but I think Moore would be making a mistake to try to use this in the discussion unless he was apologizing for misguided youthful actions...

*My parents were from the Midwest, I was mostly raised in the Midwest, but still, I don’t think things were all that different south of the Mason Dixon line—not to sound like a snob, but if this type of dating was prevalent, I doubt it was accepted in in middle class and upper middle class families—and Moore being an attorney was middle class/upper middle class. I lived in Tennessee for a few years in the early 80s—in Knoxville, and a 30-something dating a teen would not have been anything but an embarrassment in my circles.

[Mr Rogers]

Don’t know about long term relationships, but it is not uncommon for a guy of 30+ to be interested in sex with an 18 year old. Legal, too. “15 will get you 20” is the phrase to point out that she MUST be 16 in most states or else it become rape. Unless someone is both a pedophile AND a fool, they try hard to avoid anyone close to being below 16.

[Guenevere]

In the 60’s, 70’s.....in the South.....maybe not the norm, but not unusual.

For that matter, older men have dated younger women ....since forever....in every part of our country.

Loretta Lynn was 13 ish......her husband in his mid to late 20’s.....she is from Kentucky

This is all a tempest in a teapot!

[Lopeover]

I was a teen in the 70s. My girlfriend & I we’re both 16. She started dating a 30 year old man with her parents consent. My mother on the other hand disapproved of what my friend’s parents were allowing. I could no longer be friends with her. Deb married her man right after our high school graduation.

[grania]

I think it's a matter of culture and environment, what was acceptable dating practice. I think back to a situation in the 1970s where a HS teacher in his late 20s proposed to and soon married a Senior on her graduation day. A HS classmate of mine married a 27 year old the February after our 1963 HS graduation....they've been happily married since.

It depends on the laws of the time who is considered jailbait. I'd think that at this time and place, the outrage should be on sex trafficking, which by some accounts is out of control, in part because of young girls entering the US illegally and being victimized.

[Andy'smom]

I agree with you, same with me.