As disgusting as we see it now, keep in mind that, back then, child marriage was not only condoned but sometimes encouraged in those parts of the Southern U.S.
We'll never know if he did it because he had a thing for young girls, or if he did it simply because it was an accepted practice.
Regardless of why, it's objectively terrible that he did that.
Canada only changed the age of consent from 14 to 16 last decade.
Age of consent is not the same as age an adult is allowed to be with a minor. Minors should be allowed to consent to have sex, just not with much older people. Laws that prosecute, say, a 19 year old from having sex with a 17 years old, or god forbid two 14 years olds to have sex together, are absolutely draconian.
Actually, that's exactly what age of consent is. The age at which you're allowed to do things with an adult of any age.
Romeo and Juliet (or close in age) exceptions are for the situation you're describing, and are usually tacked onto age of consent laws as an exception.
In Canada, there's a pair of these. At 14 and 15 it's less than 5 years older, and at 12 and 13 it's less than 2 years older.
Have you not listened to songs from that era? They're mostly about hooking up with underage girls.
Because no one cared about that 60 years ago
Most people weren't even aware of it.
The general public knowing every little detail about a celebrity's life simply wasn't a thing then.
The sad truth is that it was a very common practice. Just wait until they hear about Jerry Lee Lewis.
And the Grateful Dead (sure Bob, you waited while she slept outside your room every night for 3 years), Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, and about a hundred other groups. Hell, Kiss had the Christine Sixteen song, Jethro Tull had Aqualung, Seventeen by Winger, Into the Night by Benny Mardones, and a bunch of other songs have super uncomfortable lyrics about girls.
That's not even getting into well known shit bags like Nugent.
Priscilla was 14 when they met, and he managed to convince her father to let her live with him. I blame the father just a much since he knew what was going down.
Not that I condone any of this, but consider that the cultural disgust of marrying a girl under the age of 18 is a more recent and modern taboo. Back then, in rural United States, it wasn't an issue at all. Heck as a Gen X kid whose parents were from the Silent Generation, my mother married her first husband when she was 16 and he was 22. She never thought it was an issue other than she regretted marrying anyone at the age. But her parents, church, and teachers didn't think it was a problem.
It's hard to believe because most people might say Elvis lived in modern society but he's not. The 20th century was full of changes that we don't really think about.
I agree with you on that. And the changes still are going on. I remember in school in the 90's it wasn't uncommon for a college guy to date a high school girl with no real repercussion. Not saying that it was right back then, just looked at differently.
It was gross back then too. In the 90s the Coasties would trawl the junior high girls. 25 year old men "dating" 13 year olds. We all knew it was gross as fuck and not okay but small town cops didn't give a fuck. Hell there was a deputy "dating" a 16 year old too.
It wasn't looked at differently in the 90s.
A guy in my class knocked up a 14 year old during senior year and we basically all stopped talking to him because fucking ew, dude.
Wait until you find out about Jerry Lee Lewis...
Wait until you find out about The Prophet Mohammed
Wait until you learn about what Catholic priests and nuns did to kids for 2,000 years.
Wait until you find out about Donald Trump.
Donald Trump had a wife whose age was a single digit?
I think he’s still under 10 of them, yeah.
Edit: oh wait, age not number, my bad
So I can better understand, could you draw me a picture?
Sure, if it helps you:
Paedophilia seemed weirdly acceptable right up until around 2000 or so. It's really quite surreal how commonplace it was.
Uh… no. Baby raping has always been frowned upon as far as I’m concerned. 14 year old consensual (to the extent a 14 year old can be) groupies were a thing, in the not too distant past, but social mores have changed since then. Which is good. There’s an enormous difference between the two though.
I think you may be wrong. Wikipedia tells me that:
"In 1880, the ages of consent were set at 10 or 12 in most states, with the exception of Delaware where it was 7."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_the_United_States
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