Can 14 year olds who get married check out adult content books from the library, attend drag shows, and learn about racism, or are they still too young for those kind of things?
My aunts parents (my grandparents), back in 1966/1967 supported her choice to not marry the man she had dated. She was pregnant and got all the help possible from her family. It was not how it usually went in Norway back then.
Marriage age is 18 for both females and boys in Norway and has been so for some years. I wish it was like that 62 ya too. Then my mother in law could not be forced to marry her rapist (19 yo). She was 15 then and exactly 16 when they married. I am forever thankful for the boy they produced, but the forced marriage makes me want to puke.
This is a trick question, why would the husband allow his wife to be in a position where any of those options is even remotely possible? Unless the drag show is in the kitchen, there would be no opportunity to the wife to attend a drag show. I don't believe there is a public library in the laundry room. Next time, when you ask a hypothetical question at least make some based in reality.
I was pointing out that age is irrelevant, once you assume that, as the bible shows, a women has no agency. There is no "old enough" to make a decision, because there is never a decision they should make.
The New Testament has both Mary sister of Martha & Mary Magdalene listening to the teachings along with the other apostles.
For the Old Testament - Proverbs 31:10-31 lays out the responsibilities of a woman.
14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
The joy of the Bible is like many other ancient texts you can find authority for almost any position you want to take. Which is one of the reasons that Paul would like to forbid women from teaching and learning.
The joy of the Bible is like many other ancient texts you can find authority for almost any position you want to take.... And that's the problem. You come from a position that women are equal, and then you can cherry-pick versus that support that. Meanwhile, someone who has the opposite opinion can do the same. The bible allows a father to sell his daughter. Female slaves are not allowed to be freed in the same way that male slaves are. Women are treated as war spoils. And then you have Paul. Even Jesus's attitude can be used to support this. Look at when he talks about divorce. It's all about the man choosing to divorce his wife. There is never any indication that the woman is equal or has any agency in this at all. If you can read any answer you want from a book, then the book has no answers. It's just a long format horoscope.
I watched a two hour documentary on Warren Jeffs and the FLDS church. The sexual exploitation of women and children were unbelievable. Unfortunately Jeffs, while extreme, was not an isolated case. The clergy has been hiding behind their Bibles and clerical collars to abuse women and children for centuries. I'm not opposed to all religions, just those that involve people.
Even though Jeffs is in prison, his followers still consider him their prophet and he still runs that cult. Amazing and frightening how easy it is to manipulate people and hijack their minds.
““We were never taught women have a right to say no," Faith told me.”
And yet women are expected to be the gatekeepers of sex. The system is setup for women’s failure. We must be feminine and pretty, but modest and don’t tempt men. Our existence tempts men, even completely covered from head to toe women are attacked and blamed for it. We cannot refuse a man, but when we do acquiesce we’re sluts. This is almost exclusively the result of religion. And it is not exclusive to the clergy.
It's a game that was invented by men, designed for men to win and women to lose, because patriarchy. And thousands of years later, it's only now STARTING to become dismantled.
None of my parents was religious and none of them teached me to be submissive. My mother's parents teached her everything was possible for her. But none of them was religious. Mother is 83 yo now. Lost to alzheimer. I miss her so much.
My parents were religious, but my sister and I were never taught to be submissive. We were taught to be independent and take no BS from any male. We were warriors (😂) and still are, even our brothers didn’t mess with us. Now we’re all in our late 60’s and 70’s, mellowed out a little and laughing about my sister and I taking on them and the rest of the males in the neighborhood. I’m surprised we ever had a date! 🤣
It is a part of our culture that has been founded on religion for eons. Your parents may not have been taught this thinking in the church, but the church is where it was derived.
I know, and I consider myself lucky. In 1944 the nazi burned the houses, including the churches and every other building where they grew up. Religious people met at each other until a church was build on that island in 1972. It was possible for my mother's family to ignore the religion thing.
Yeah, it sounds like this could have been stopped early by any number of basically decent people around her who had misgivings. Friends, family, peers. But all of them had swallowed the Kool-Aid. It's the Kool-Aid, Jake.
Bad break ups or called-off engagements between honestly intentioned people often lead to one person leaving the social circle or even the town. They don't lead to someone fleeing extradition.
I give it a 50/50 chance that his trial results in some other young woman (either from PA, or Queensland...or both) comes forward saying 'yeah, he did that to me too.'
A sexual predator was married to my cousin. He damaged two other cousins of mine and his own daughter and probably more. All of them younger than 12 at the time. Why or how I escaped him I don't know. One of my cousins tells herself a story where she was the leader, it makes her feel stronger. It makes me cry.
Yep..... , I've always said there are more Killers walking amongst us that have never been caught vs those convicted and in prison. The amount of unsolved crimes, murders around the US (probably the world) is astounding......given all the unsolved cases, misclassified cases, deliberately closed early cases and not reported, statistically speaking there have to be more Killers, Predators walking among us than in prison.
Ummmm......."Dark alley with stray dog vs unknown man......I will take my chances with the stray dog"
We have to make sure to complete the cliché when people say, "A few bad apples" or "One bad apple." Using half the cliché excuses the system that enabled the bad apple.
A few bad apples spoils the lot.
Would you buy a bag of apples if only one was green and fuzzy?
Kool-aid was a product that was probably fighting to keep it's name from becoming used as the default for all products in that category such as Xerox or Q-tip. The phrase "drink the Kool-aid" has been in our lexicon for a long time now. It may even pre-date the Jonestown Massacre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid Couple this with the fact that investigators found both Kool-aid and Flavor-aid in the compound and I suspect that the article you posted more shows the power of a corporation than actual history. I have little doubt that the General Foods company was desperately trying to get the Kool-aid name out of the mouth of people at the time. The article you posted even references what the phrase we use today is.
This is patriarchal religion in action. Women and girls are chattel. The dominionists think this is just dandy because there are plenty of examples in the bible... Child marriage should be extirpated from the laws of any state where it is still allowed. Churches should be given a statutory duty to protect minors in their charge from adults. This is just common-sense, kind protection for the youngest among us, but you can bet the fundies will scream their heads off if any gets the intestinal fortitude to try.
Textually, there is nothing in the Bible to suggest this.
It's just church tradition used to try and keep Mary a perpetual virgin by saying that Jesus' brothers and sisters were STEP-brothers and STEP-sisters by Joseph from a previous marriage.
The church has never had a healthy relationship with human sexuality.
They were fringe Jews sects who were celibate. From what is understood about it, the Qumran community functioned like later Christian monasteries. What is not known is if this community was as lustful as the monks were rumored (or were tout court) to be.
We had at least one group here in the states called Shakers, they did not reproduce or pair up, keeping the genders separated. They eventually died out.
But do you think his genitals are big or strong enough? If you started at LAX, I doubt you would even get out of the terminal, before there was nothing left.
Reading this article is painful, even if it's clearly no where near the trauma Sarah went through. On a personal level, this is a terrifying reminder that I could very easily been in the very same situation had some authority figure expressed interest and managed to convince my parents it was God's will. This story illustrates on a fundamental level how a rape culture works and what it does to the most vulnerable groups of people in society.
Robert Fenton is not alone. He is not the only predator associated with a religious institution by any means. It's gotten bad enough that the phrases 'youth pastor' and 'Catholic priest' mean pretty much the same thing - someone who stalks children for their intimate needs. Sarah has my admiration for having the strength to shine a light on this problem so very often swept under the rug. It seems to me the minimum we as a society could offer her would be a bit of justice, even so very long after the fact. Here's hoping it happens soon.
Hey, Republicans... where are all the bills prohibiting clergy from spending time with children unsupervised, huh? I mean, since y'all are shitting all over yourselves about LGB and 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 T people committing 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 crimes, surely you'd be more concerned with the 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 crimes that have been committed, and are still being committed, and will continue to be committed, by creepy Christian clergy who are *𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴* cisgender, heterosexual white men? When can we expect cis/het clergymen to be banned from positions working with children, hmm?
They would, but they are too busy stopping bills to ban underage marriage.
"If we continually restrict the freedom of marriage as a legitimate social option, when we do this to people who are of a ripe, fertile age and may have a pregnancy and a baby involved, are we not in fact making abortion a much more desirable alternative, when marriage might be the right solution for some freedom-loving couples?" Rep. Jess Edwards said.
GOP official argues in favor of child marriage: Girls are ‘ripe’ and ‘fertile’
Kanawha County Republican Sen. Mike Stuart, a former federal prosecutor who sided with the majority, said his vote “wasn’t a vote against women.” He said his mother was married when she was 16, and “six months later, I came along. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
Child marriage ban bill defeated in West Virginia House
“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married,” state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, said Tuesday evening in response to questioning by state Rep. Peter Merideth, a St. Louis Democrat.
""...are we not in fact making abortion a much more desirable alternative, when marriage might be the right solution for some freedom-loving couples?" Rep. Jess Edwards said."
If you cared at all about women and girls, then you would realize that freedom is about having the choice, the choice to refuse the sexual encounter in the first place, the choice to use birth control, the choice to abort or the choice to carry to term. But for all those choices the girls are too young to make for themselves, but they're not too young for a lifelong commitment to their rapists.
But you are not concerned about women or girls, so your freedom-loving couple is only the creepy adult male who predates on underaged girls.
What we need here are thoughts and prayers. That's the thing which will cure this scourge of bad behavior, and prevent future victimized men from being taken advantage of by jezebel children.
Men of the cloth are men of gawd. Men of gawd answer to laws we can never know. Apparently gawd has blessed child rape. See catholic church and its billions spent protecting pedophile priests.
They protect their own. Especially since they see nothing wrong with sexually abusing children. Remember Mike Huckabee sent Josh Duggar to be be "counseled" (on how to hide his crimes, evidently) by a State Trooper, who was also jailed for kiddy diddling? Amazing that Huckabee just happened to know a child-sexual abuser. He obviously protected them both from being stopped.
Perhaps we should look into why he can’t find age appropriate partners? Then we can determine if those qualities are what we would like for our children to date. I’m gonna guess that they are not desirable traits for any potential partner.
Having been the barely legal choice for some older men in the past, I have some perspective on how it feels to be the prey. All of the dudes seeking teens are predatory. Even if the age gap relationship works out, it is detrimental to the younger woman.
Once my boobs filled out completely (around fifteen) suddenly, thirty year-old guys were constantly hitting on me, especially once I started working at the local mall. They were gross and predatory.
You're not being cynical. Can you imagine the numbers of Catholic priests and evangelical bible-thumpers who would be cooling their heels in a 9 x 12 cell right now if religion didn't always get the automatic pass?
Because male teachers, scout leaders, doctors, coaches and neighbors also sexually preyed on children and as long as they were respected in the community, they got a pass.
It's not that ministers,rabbis and priests didn't -- it's that no one protected children from adults -- as long as those adults were middle class.
Can 14 year olds who get married check out adult content books from the library, attend drag shows, and learn about racism, or are they still too young for those kind of things?
No, but they are mature enough to be forced to carry their rapist's baby.
Ain't America wonderful?
In some ways, yes. In way too many other ways, no.
🎯But strangely they are never found "Mature enough" to get an abortion by the fanatical judges here in FL.
14 yo can't marry here in Norway anymore. Thank Frøya. No matter what.
France passed a law to raise marriage age from 15 to 18 for girls and carved exceptions into it...
*Facepalm*
Christendom has left us with a legacy of "better a child bride than a bastard". It is disgusting.
My aunts parents (my grandparents), back in 1966/1967 supported her choice to not marry the man she had dated. She was pregnant and got all the help possible from her family. It was not how it usually went in Norway back then.
Marriage age is 18 for both females and boys in Norway and has been so for some years. I wish it was like that 62 ya too. Then my mother in law could not be forced to marry her rapist (19 yo). She was 15 then and exactly 16 when they married. I am forever thankful for the boy they produced, but the forced marriage makes me want to puke.
Here, underage girls married can do that and much more. Legal marriage = automatic emancipation.
This is a trick question, why would the husband allow his wife to be in a position where any of those options is even remotely possible? Unless the drag show is in the kitchen, there would be no opportunity to the wife to attend a drag show. I don't believe there is a public library in the laundry room. Next time, when you ask a hypothetical question at least make some based in reality.
The question was about a 14 year old.
If a 14 year old isn't mature enough to go to a drag show or check out pornography, then they're not mature enough to get married.
And if that 14 year old IS old enough to marry, then they're old enough to make their own decisions without some husband's say so.
I was pointing out that age is irrelevant, once you assume that, as the bible shows, a women has no agency. There is no "old enough" to make a decision, because there is never a decision they should make.
Men saying that are using Paul instead of Jesus.
The New Testament has both Mary sister of Martha & Mary Magdalene listening to the teachings along with the other apostles.
For the Old Testament - Proverbs 31:10-31 lays out the responsibilities of a woman.
14 She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
The joy of the Bible is like many other ancient texts you can find authority for almost any position you want to take. Which is one of the reasons that Paul would like to forbid women from teaching and learning.
The joy of the Bible is like many other ancient texts you can find authority for almost any position you want to take.... And that's the problem. You come from a position that women are equal, and then you can cherry-pick versus that support that. Meanwhile, someone who has the opposite opinion can do the same. The bible allows a father to sell his daughter. Female slaves are not allowed to be freed in the same way that male slaves are. Women are treated as war spoils. And then you have Paul. Even Jesus's attitude can be used to support this. Look at when he talks about divorce. It's all about the man choosing to divorce his wife. There is never any indication that the woman is equal or has any agency in this at all. If you can read any answer you want from a book, then the book has no answers. It's just a long format horoscope.
I wish there was some reactio options on Substack. I want to react with a :rofl: emoy.
Not in the states.
Zing!!
And vote.
I watched a two hour documentary on Warren Jeffs and the FLDS church. The sexual exploitation of women and children were unbelievable. Unfortunately Jeffs, while extreme, was not an isolated case. The clergy has been hiding behind their Bibles and clerical collars to abuse women and children for centuries. I'm not opposed to all religions, just those that involve people.
Even though Jeffs is in prison, his followers still consider him their prophet and he still runs that cult. Amazing and frightening how easy it is to manipulate people and hijack their minds.
Yup. Just look at the Republican Party!
Exactly!!
Indeed.
““We were never taught women have a right to say no," Faith told me.”
And yet women are expected to be the gatekeepers of sex. The system is setup for women’s failure. We must be feminine and pretty, but modest and don’t tempt men. Our existence tempts men, even completely covered from head to toe women are attacked and blamed for it. We cannot refuse a man, but when we do acquiesce we’re sluts. This is almost exclusively the result of religion. And it is not exclusive to the clergy.
It's a game that was invented by men, designed for men to win and women to lose, because patriarchy. And thousands of years later, it's only now STARTING to become dismantled.
None of my parents was religious and none of them teached me to be submissive. My mother's parents teached her everything was possible for her. But none of them was religious. Mother is 83 yo now. Lost to alzheimer. I miss her so much.
My parents were religious, but my sister and I were never taught to be submissive. We were taught to be independent and take no BS from any male. We were warriors (😂) and still are, even our brothers didn’t mess with us. Now we’re all in our late 60’s and 70’s, mellowed out a little and laughing about my sister and I taking on them and the rest of the males in the neighborhood. I’m surprised we ever had a date! 🤣
It is a part of our culture that has been founded on religion for eons. Your parents may not have been taught this thinking in the church, but the church is where it was derived.
I know, and I consider myself lucky. In 1944 the nazi burned the houses, including the churches and every other building where they grew up. Religious people met at each other until a church was build on that island in 1972. It was possible for my mother's family to ignore the religion thing.
Bullshit.
I was raised Catholic from a family that went to mass at least weekly and often daily.
The Church may have taught this. Neither my parents, my grandparents or the nuns did.
My grandfather especially felt his daughters and granddaughters were the equal of any man breathing.
My father taught me to box.
As your English appears to be flawless, I may be missing out on a joke and forgive me if I am overstepping…..The past tense of teach is ‘taught”.
…none of them taught me to be dismissive…
No joke. I just forgot how to teach behaves.
EDIT: I have no idea about what I was supposed to write in the sentence above.
Perfectly said!!!!
But drag queens and LGBT supportive faculty are the danger to children. Not men in their late twenties 'romancing' girls barely into their teen years.
Good for Sarah and the others (we all know it wasn't just the two mentioned) that they may get justice and maybe just a little bit of healing.
Her previous church would howl in outrage if a 26 years old woman did the same with a 14 years old boy.
Not sure they would. Oh, they would condemn the woman, but behind closed doors, they would say, "Man, I wish I had a teacher like her at that age."
Yes the true "groomers" are the patriarchal religions.
𝑆𝑎𝑟𝑎ℎ 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 (𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦) 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐶𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒
Yeah, it sounds like this could have been stopped early by any number of basically decent people around her who had misgivings. Friends, family, peers. But all of them had swallowed the Kool-Aid. It's the Kool-Aid, Jake.
𝑠ℎ𝑒 [an Aunt] 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝐹𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛.
Bad break ups or called-off engagements between honestly intentioned people often lead to one person leaving the social circle or even the town. They don't lead to someone fleeing extradition.
I give it a 50/50 chance that his trial results in some other young woman (either from PA, or Queensland...or both) comes forward saying 'yeah, he did that to me too.'
One already did. You are right they are probably more. Sexual predators are similar to serial killers in that way.
A sexual predator was married to my cousin. He damaged two other cousins of mine and his own daughter and probably more. All of them younger than 12 at the time. Why or how I escaped him I don't know. One of my cousins tells herself a story where she was the leader, it makes her feel stronger. It makes me cry.
Yep..... , I've always said there are more Killers walking amongst us that have never been caught vs those convicted and in prison. The amount of unsolved crimes, murders around the US (probably the world) is astounding......given all the unsolved cases, misclassified cases, deliberately closed early cases and not reported, statistically speaking there have to be more Killers, Predators walking among us than in prison.
Ummmm......."Dark alley with stray dog vs unknown man......I will take my chances with the stray dog"
We have to make sure to complete the cliché when people say, "A few bad apples" or "One bad apple." Using half the cliché excuses the system that enabled the bad apple.
A few bad apples spoils the lot.
Would you buy a bag of apples if only one was green and fuzzy?
It's interesting just how quickly one bad apple (mandarin, onion, potato, etc.) can indeed get a lot more rot going quickly.
https://youtu.be/NpLSq29aORQ?si=gzvLAc1HuHOve1L1
lol
Hilarious.
Only that they come forward, not that there are others out there, that I give 99.99999 (asymptotically approaching 100) percent chance.
***Flavor Aid***
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavor_Aid#Jonestown_massacre
You're welcome. 🙂
Kool-aid was a product that was probably fighting to keep it's name from becoming used as the default for all products in that category such as Xerox or Q-tip. The phrase "drink the Kool-aid" has been in our lexicon for a long time now. It may even pre-date the Jonestown Massacre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid Couple this with the fact that investigators found both Kool-aid and Flavor-aid in the compound and I suspect that the article you posted more shows the power of a corporation than actual history. I have little doubt that the General Foods company was desperately trying to get the Kool-aid name out of the mouth of people at the time. The article you posted even references what the phrase we use today is.
Your welcome.
This is patriarchal religion in action. Women and girls are chattel. The dominionists think this is just dandy because there are plenty of examples in the bible... Child marriage should be extirpated from the laws of any state where it is still allowed. Churches should be given a statutory duty to protect minors in their charge from adults. This is just common-sense, kind protection for the youngest among us, but you can bet the fundies will scream their heads off if any gets the intestinal fortitude to try.
anyone gets... (I wish Substack had an edit button.)
The web site does. Far to the right of the share button is three dots, if you click on them you get an edit option. I don't know about the app.
The app doesn't seem to have it. Several commenters complained about it.
PS : I really need some shut eyes. My English level is dropping to DM's.
I'm sorry, but "I really need some shut eyes" sounds adorable to this native English- speaking person!
Yiu can tzke my plzce znd dleep 4 hours in the last 36 hours zheb you want.
Use the website and not the app. Then you can edit.
I want to throw this article in the face of every hateful anti-LGBTQ preacher. To them, I say:
The call is coming from INSIDE the house, assholes.
Bad apple bla bla bla...
The whole orchard is rotten.
All the way down to its Abrahamic root.
And always has been.
It was "conservative Christians" who trafficked me. "Betrothed" is code for "child being forced to marry an adult.
[Mary was much, much younger than Joseph...]
Textually, there is nothing in the Bible to suggest this.
It's just church tradition used to try and keep Mary a perpetual virgin by saying that Jesus' brothers and sisters were STEP-brothers and STEP-sisters by Joseph from a previous marriage.
The church has never had a healthy relationship with human sexuality.
🎯🎯🎯Yes, and there was no way a thirty-something Jewish guy was not married back then either!
They were fringe Jews sects who were celibate. From what is understood about it, the Qumran community functioned like later Christian monasteries. What is not known is if this community was as lustful as the monks were rumored (or were tout court) to be.
We had at least one group here in the states called Shakers, they did not reproduce or pair up, keeping the genders separated. They eventually died out.
In the Qumran case the Roman soldiers helped a lot.
This bastard should be dragged from California to Pennsylvania by his genitals.
With barbed wire.
Rusty barbed wire.
...wrapped around a railroad tie.
What Clostridium tetani bacteria did to you ?
Just wanted to give the barbed wire that extra little touch. :)
But do you think his genitals are big or strong enough? If you started at LAX, I doubt you would even get out of the terminal, before there was nothing left.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
I know, right?
"There were boundaries present..."
And we can see what those boundaries meant to an xtian youth pastor. The same thing his own scripture meant to him: absolutely nothing.
Allowing children of 14 to be allowed to marry at all is state sponsored abuse.
Reading this article is painful, even if it's clearly no where near the trauma Sarah went through. On a personal level, this is a terrifying reminder that I could very easily been in the very same situation had some authority figure expressed interest and managed to convince my parents it was God's will. This story illustrates on a fundamental level how a rape culture works and what it does to the most vulnerable groups of people in society.
Robert Fenton is not alone. He is not the only predator associated with a religious institution by any means. It's gotten bad enough that the phrases 'youth pastor' and 'Catholic priest' mean pretty much the same thing - someone who stalks children for their intimate needs. Sarah has my admiration for having the strength to shine a light on this problem so very often swept under the rug. It seems to me the minimum we as a society could offer her would be a bit of justice, even so very long after the fact. Here's hoping it happens soon.
https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/440414043_1668646567255032_7495497147673167062_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=uy9X17Eqk_QQ7kNvgHIdkBu&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&oh=00_AfDORbQY12TTGiAOgvVWUVdJ-HTX6I_gJ7_liWGnraEMcA&oe=663F04A1
Hey, Republicans... where are all the bills prohibiting clergy from spending time with children unsupervised, huh? I mean, since y'all are shitting all over yourselves about LGB and 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 T people committing 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 crimes, surely you'd be more concerned with the 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 crimes that have been committed, and are still being committed, and will continue to be committed, by creepy Christian clergy who are *𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴* cisgender, heterosexual white men? When can we expect cis/het clergymen to be banned from positions working with children, hmm?
What's that?
𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴, you say?
Quelle surprise.
They would, but they are too busy stopping bills to ban underage marriage.
"If we continually restrict the freedom of marriage as a legitimate social option, when we do this to people who are of a ripe, fertile age and may have a pregnancy and a baby involved, are we not in fact making abortion a much more desirable alternative, when marriage might be the right solution for some freedom-loving couples?" Rep. Jess Edwards said.
GOP official argues in favor of child marriage: Girls are ‘ripe’ and ‘fertile’
https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/05/gop-official-argues-in-favor-of-child-marriage-girls-are-ripe-and-fertile.html
Kanawha County Republican Sen. Mike Stuart, a former federal prosecutor who sided with the majority, said his vote “wasn’t a vote against women.” He said his mother was married when she was 16, and “six months later, I came along. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
Child marriage ban bill defeated in West Virginia House
https://apnews.com/article/child-marriage-west-virginia-bill-defeated-4d822a23b5ffd70f5370a36cc914cfb0
“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married,” state Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican, said Tuesday evening in response to questioning by state Rep. Peter Merideth, a St. Louis Democrat.
Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article274244525.html#storylink=cpy
Preventing child marriage allows for gay marriage......
https://www.tba.org/?blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=30366&pg=Articles
We can't prevent child marriage without shitting on trans kids.
https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2024/02/republican-lawmaker-sends-late-night-anti-trans-email-in-response-to-child-marriage-proposal
https://katv.com/news/nation-world/wyoming-republicans-under-fire-for-objecting-to-ban-for-marriage-for-kids-15-and-under-child-brides-equal-protection-teen-moms-teen-pregnancy-child-protection-laws-christianity-civil-rights-traditional-marriage-pro-life-consent
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article226944034.html
""...are we not in fact making abortion a much more desirable alternative, when marriage might be the right solution for some freedom-loving couples?" Rep. Jess Edwards said."
If you cared at all about women and girls, then you would realize that freedom is about having the choice, the choice to refuse the sexual encounter in the first place, the choice to use birth control, the choice to abort or the choice to carry to term. But for all those choices the girls are too young to make for themselves, but they're not too young for a lifelong commitment to their rapists.
But you are not concerned about women or girls, so your freedom-loving couple is only the creepy adult male who predates on underaged girls.
It is telling that they defend child predation, they must share that deviancy.
🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮
Regulations? Perish the thought!
What we need here are thoughts and prayers. That's the thing which will cure this scourge of bad behavior, and prevent future victimized men from being taken advantage of by jezebel children.
Men of the cloth are men of gawd. Men of gawd answer to laws we can never know. Apparently gawd has blessed child rape. See catholic church and its billions spent protecting pedophile priests.
They protect their own. Especially since they see nothing wrong with sexually abusing children. Remember Mike Huckabee sent Josh Duggar to be be "counseled" (on how to hide his crimes, evidently) by a State Trooper, who was also jailed for kiddy diddling? Amazing that Huckabee just happened to know a child-sexual abuser. He obviously protected them both from being stopped.
“𝑠ℎ𝑒 [an Aunt] 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝐹𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛.”
Perhaps we should look into why he can’t find age appropriate partners? Then we can determine if those qualities are what we would like for our children to date. I’m gonna guess that they are not desirable traits for any potential partner.
Having been the barely legal choice for some older men in the past, I have some perspective on how it feels to be the prey. All of the dudes seeking teens are predatory. Even if the age gap relationship works out, it is detrimental to the younger woman.
Once my boobs filled out completely (around fifteen) suddenly, thirty year-old guys were constantly hitting on me, especially once I started working at the local mall. They were gross and predatory.
Guaranteed that if this guy hadn't been a pastor (or maybe even just a Christian), he'd have been in custody long before now.
Or am I just being cynical?
You're not being cynical. Can you imagine the numbers of Catholic priests and evangelical bible-thumpers who would be cooling their heels in a 9 x 12 cell right now if religion didn't always get the automatic pass?
The number would be staggering!
I think you're being optimistic.
Because male teachers, scout leaders, doctors, coaches and neighbors also sexually preyed on children and as long as they were respected in the community, they got a pass.
It's not that ministers,rabbis and priests didn't -- it's that no one protected children from adults -- as long as those adults were middle class.