Law and Order SVU: Season 11, Episode 5

Law and Order SVU hits home in this episode, as it brings a chilling glimpse into the reality and consequences of holding the stereotypical view South Park, so mockingly, presents of pederasts in contemporary society. In this episode a school’s discovery that one of their young male students contracted Chlamydia leads them to learn that the boy has been sexually abused. The case quickly developed into a witchhunt To Catch a Predator. Shortly into the episode the boy’s stepfather is targeted as his abuser. In pleas for an amnesty agreement, the boy’s stepfather reveals the information about the child-adult civil rights group he was involved in and it’s leader.

The stepfather is found guilty straight away; however, if the leader of the group was not tied to the child pornography—his “ex-girlfriend’s” testimonial appeared at one point to be convincing enough to get him off of the charges. She discloses that their relationship (which at the time was illegal because of her age) was the most normal one she had ever been in. She claims to have come onto him and that he responded saying society would not understand. When asked what her parents thought she disclosed the fact that her mother was an alcoholic and that her father abused her. She said that he encouraged her in ways no one else had and that he was the reason she was now getting her master’s degree. She says that it was this man who made her into the woman she is today.

Although this was not a pederastic relationship, it does bring to mind the circumstance of the proper age of consent. Her guardians were not caring for her and in this position she was perhaps the most rational person to be making the decisions.

Sexual abuse can be defined as a situation in which an adult uses his or her age or authority over a young person to make any type of sexual contact. This is, of course, a serious matter just as any type of unconsentual sex is. If a minor can be tried as an adult for a criminal offense, then why can a minor not be seen as an adult in the eyes of the court if he or she can prove the rationality of his or her decisions.

In some countries the age of consent is as young as thirteen. Most countries, however, range somewhere between fourteen and seventeen—around the time of puberty in most teens. If kids are physically mature enough to be sexually active, perhaps they are mentally as well. If sexual education was more widespread and filled with facts rather than fear tactics young adults would likely be more rational about their sexual decisions.