In Reply to: I believe there is an objective standard posted by kinda gentler on July 12, 2004 at 23:52:03:
there are some Muslim cultures where it is fine to have a wife at 9 yrs. old, (I think that was a Taliban law) and some polygamous cultures that also have beliefs to take on a young child as a wife is morally allowed. The U.S. is probably one of the most stringent in its laws against that sort of thing. I did see a documentary where a predator from Europe had enticed a 13 yr old girl to run off with him and he kept her hidden. It took the mother a long time to find them, but I think she found them overseas. He was prosecuted there and was barely given any jail time, whereas it would have been very different in the States. There was one scene where he chillingly looked in the camera and he said, "You Americans are so obsessed with age." I'm not saying this to get involved with the original point of the discussion, but simply to add to the facts that are are being presented, whether pro or con.