Statutory Rape

“Two-thirds of births to teenage girls nationwide are fathered by adult men age twenty or older,” (Hsu). This fact partially falls under the category of statutory rape. Depending on the state and its law about statutory rape, at a certain teen year it is allowed for a teenager to be sexually active with any age above their own. However, there is a possibility for a teen to be able to be sexually active with someone older with parental consent, but that also has an age limit to it. Statutory rape has been discussed for several years because of all the different types of cases that have been dealt with in the past, such as the partners being in love, the parents approving the relationship but the consent not mattering, and so on. According to the Sex Laws website, “statutory rape is illegal sexual activity between two people when it would otherwise be legal if not for their age.” This rape is “non-forcible”; it is the younger age that causes it to be an illegal act unless the male and female are already married (“What is”). It can be assumed that statutory rape came about because of young girls being impregnated by older men. The girls were viewed as victims and, at first, only the men were punished because they were having “sexual intercourse with female[s], who [were] not [their] wife, under the age of consent” according to “Statutory Rape Laws” (9). England, in the 1200s, had a law that made it illegal to have sexual intercourse with a girl under twelve years old, however, they lowered the age to under ten 291 years later. States in America either chose ten or twelve as the age of consent with the idea that it will protect “white females and their premarital chastity as property” (“Statutory Rape Laws” 11). Furthermore, “‘statutory rape was a property crime’” in those years because “females were seen as ‘special property’” (“Statutory Rape Laws” 11). The horrifying part is the law didn’t apply to black females, since they were slaves. Towards the end of the

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