If a child is violated by a older child or a teen is it the same as being molested by an adult? Or is it just being curious?
130168
The molestor does NOT have to be an adult, if it is a teenager and they are molesting or touching a child in a sexual way it IS MOLESTATION regardless of age and if the molestor is at least 15 they can be charged as an adult in most states and registered as a sex offender if reported
634096
a bit of both, at 16 you know the difference between right and wrong. a 21 year should never touch a 16 year old, if they do its for one reason only (sorry cooks but you live and learn). if he did something that you are not comfortable with then say something.... rape is never the girls fault. EVER
616654
How old is your daughter?  And how old were the boys who did it?  If they are ALL minors, you probably have no legal action.  Sorry.  Just talk with the parents and make sure they talk with their kids so it doesn't happen again.  \n\nIf one of the boys was an adult and your daughter isn't, then there is a real problem, and you could have him arrested for sexual assault on a minor.
215982
Sir, I can speak from personal experience on this subject. I am a pedophile. Pedophilia is incurable, but it can be managed. Management is entirely dependant on the pedophiles personal conviction to not offend or reoffend. In my case I abused many times before I was caught commiting an offense. I was on probation and in psychothearpy from August 1992 until August 1999. I am not proud of what I did but I am proud to say that the last time I offended was in late 1991. I continue to this day to use many of the tools I was taught in my thearpy. I avoid being left alone with children, I don't go to places where there are large numbers of unattended children (ie; arcades, movie theaters, playgrounds, etc). When I see a child that is attractive to me I leave. When I think of a child in an inappropriate way I try to distract myself by becomming active in some other thought process. These are only a very few examples of how to avoid, control and escape potentially dangerous situations. It takes a great deal of practice to make it so it is almost second nature.\n \nThe thoughts I do have of children will likely continue for the remainder of my life. That is a given, by the treatment providers. The thoughts are not the problem though, it is what you do with them that matters. Fortunatly, I have been able to keep them under control, and pray that I will continue to do so.\n\nI expect that I will recieve some negitive feedback after posting this. I hope that those that hate me for what I have done in my past will consider that I have made sincere efforts to change my life. I cannot undo the past. I can only control my actions for the future.\n\nAs far as pedophilia being a mental disease it is. Please click the link below and read all three pages on this subject. The second page deals specifically wit the fact that it is a disease.\n\n Hope this all helps
662239
I'm not aware that children at age 6 are receiving any official/formal training in sex education.\n\nMy concern at this point is that the child is learning this from another student or worse yet, an adult who is not authorized to do this sort of teaching.\n\nI might want to sit down with the parents of this child in a comfortable non aggressive/threatening environment and find out what the child meant when he said this and where he gained this information.\n\nThis can range from the simple act of bringing the matter to teachers and administration at the school to the leveling of charges against an adult who had less than pleasant intentions with the child.\n\nGood luck with this.\n\nLove as always,\n\nSebastian
125395
Well being a mom of two step children who have been severely sexually abused, I personally think if I am asked to do that, it is extremely innapropriate, and the chances are they talk to the younger ones, as I have masked myself many times as a under age teen, and 9 times out of ten they go for it. I personally think if they are decent, they will not ask you to do that. And expecially if it does not feel right to you, which I sense it does not.. then stand up for that inner voice.
199949
Becuase 18yo's are weird..and 16yo's arent. It is not rape.
43909
It's unlawful to have sex with someone under 18, being as he is older but still a minor he still could be charged with rape. When your both over 18 and adults then your legal.
40059
I don't have questions! You need to understand how difficult it is to prosecuted Child Abuse / Molestation Cases. All too often the Petifiles walk, so, if your new   man was charged and convicted, he propably did it! Why don't you research the history on the case? You cannot trust his word, you need to read for yourself the documented case from Police, CPS, Councilors, etc; I hope you wise up & take action before exposing your child(ren) to a monster!
65304
As sad as it sounds, yes the uncle will more than likely be charged with child abuse or endangerment. My friend was done like that. Her kids beat her up and if she tried to protect herself they called the law or social services. She has battery charges against her and the kids were taken. She only disciplined them not abused them. The way the laws are today any kid can hollar child abuse and get by with it and the parents pay no matter what goes on. How's that for the gov't getting involved. Things should go back to when parents took kids out to the woodshed and a lot of things would be better. I know cause i was raised that way.
185016
There is nothing wrong with it, in my opinion. Even with the stagitory (sp?) rape situation (which im sure will come up somewhere)at least in some states, is that it has to be atleast a 5 yr. difference, regaurdless if someone is under 16. Some may say that is wrong with the age difference, but love has no boundaries, and love is love either way. As long as no one is being taken advantage of or used, then I see no problem with this. I mean, they could hypathetically going to the same school with each other, IOW, highschool, so what's the problem in that? My parents are remarried, one is 9 years older than their spouse, the other is 5. But when you are dealing with such a young age, the only thing I could think would be an issue is the maturity levels that may differ, but even then, that does not justify this being "wrong". so in my opinion, the answer is not wrong.
444184
Nah, I think it is crazy to think that you (or whomever!) would be punished for being raped by an underage person. It isn't as if you initiated the sex and it was non-consensual so you really couldn't be prosecuted.
197259
If anyone makes a sexual move on you without your consent, whether it is boyfriend or husband, it is sexual abuse. It may even be considered rape in the right circumstances. \n\nIt is big. It is disrespect at it's lowest form and a felony at it's highest form
514835
Wow.  Most of the responses posted are not very fair.  The people who responded assume that pedophiles are child molesters.  Some studies have concluded that at least a quarter of all adult men may have some feelings of sexual arousal in connection with children.  This does not necessarily mean that they will act on those feelings.  In fact, some experts state that most child abusers are NOT pedophiles. Often, they are adults who are primarily attracted to other adults but who, for a variety of reasons, have used children to fulfill their needs.\n\nI say you should continue be his friend.  Even if he says that he is a pedophile or a potential pedophile, does not mean that he will act on those feelings.  You stated that he "Never did anything that you know of".  As a friend, you can encourage him to keep it that way.
224188
To date we don't have 'thought police' who can read your innermost thoughts, so how would we possibly know how many have thought about it?\n\nParticipants, I would suspect very few, probably equal to the number of children who were abused at an early age.\n\nThe closest I've seen to a definitive answer is this:\n\nCertainly, there are people who engage in D&S and S/M activities for whom it is a problem or the expression of a problem--but so also there are people who cannot engage in anything but ordinary penis-vagina intercourse for whom [sex] is a problem or the expression of a problem. If someone is really the sort of person who is likely to become a serial killer, he probably won't be talking about it and he probably won't be in so relatively conscious a relationship as S&M. He'll much more likely be repressed or out there doing mayhem.
207684
I work in Social Work and see cases of child molestors who were in fact molested themselves as children.  \n\nWhilst I condem what they do and hate it with a vengence, the person carrying out the molestation needs help every bit as much as the person being molested.  \n\nFrom what I understand of this matter, the person molesting does know it is wrong but seem to want to hurt others as they have been hurt!  It seems to give them back some kind of 'power' or 'control' that was robbed of themselves when they were children when they become the perpetrators back. \n\nI really think these people need a lot of help to give them back their self-worth and dignity or else they may continue to do what they do.
343449
There is nothing "gross" about this issue, so don't worry about that. Hey, what your friend did back when she was a kid, with a neighborhood friend was perfectly normal childhood developement behavior. It is normal for kids to become curious as a certain age and want to check things out, experiment with each other sexually. There truly is not any reason your friend should feel bad about this past action. Nearly every person on the face of the earth has done some level of sexual experimentation during childhood and adolescence. Some experiment more than others, but this is very normal behavior. \n\nNow, this is normal behavior as long as both involved are within a two year age group together. As long as both are of a simular age. When one person is three years older than the other, well, then we are talking about molestation. If one party is three or more years ahead of the other participant, then it is molestation. This is the cutoff age as children grow at such rapid rates, one who is three years older is very much more developed than a child three years or more younger. The older child is then taking advantage of the younger child. It that is the case here, then your friend does have an issue to deal with. \n\nDepending upon which of the two was the elder, your friend either needs counseling for being a victem of molestation, or if your friend was the elder, counseling for being a molester. It is difficult for anyone to deal with childhood issues. It is difficult to bring the past back to life and then deal with it in a healthy manner. However, it is vitally important that any such childhood issues be dealt with as unresolved childhood issues will affect adult life for as long as they remain unresolved. It is healthy to deal with such issues; it is unhealthy to leave them unresolved. \n\nWith that said, only your friend can know how old each of them were and wether or not there is anything which needs dealing with emotionally. If they both were within two years of each other, you can tell your friend this is perfectly normal behavior and all children engage in experimentation. It is normal developemental behavior and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Now, if your friend was more than two years younger than the other person, then your friend was molested and needs assistance in dealing with these unresolved issues, healing and put it behind her. It could take as few as one meeting, and as many as she needs to resolve this within herself and put it behind her. If she was molested she has nothing to feel ashamed of, she was a victem of an older and more experianced kid. There is no shame in being taken advantage of, she was too young to truly have had any choice in the matter. If she was the one who was older than the other child, then she has unrelsoved issues of molesting a younger child, or taking advantage of the lessor developed and experianced child. Now, I am speaking hypothetically here, as I do not know what your friends age was or the age of the other child. So, when I speak of molestation, it is only if she was more than two years older than the other child. Even if she never repeated this behavior, she would have to confess to some person what she did and then work through the issue and come out the other side with self forgiveness. \n\nChildren often participate in behaviors that they never repeat as adults. Just because a child committed molestation of a younger child, or did some other sordid behavior which is not ecceptable, does not make them a bad person, just a kid who made a bad choice which happened to harm somebody else. When a child knows they harmed another child, in the event of not being caught and brought to account, it leaves a feeling of having committed a transgression which shames them and remaines unresolved within them as an adult. This unresolved issue will affect them all their adult life if it is not dealt with. A person deals with such issues by bringing the behavior out of th