Comments on: Billy Bob Thornton’s son, 14, taken advantage of by 22 year-old woman

By: Betty Johnson

Betty Johnson — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:10:51 +0000

Used to be, years ago- especially in Tennessee, Kentucky and other Southern states… Nobody thought much of a girl getting married at the age of 13 or 14 and start having babies… Seems like Loretta Lynn was in that age range- and Jerry Lee Lewis’ first wife? and how many 14 year old girls give birth every year? I think the age of ‘maturity’ is set, legally, way too old- Who’s correct ?- the State laws… or Mother nature? When one reaches the age of being able to father a child- or give birth… they should be considered ‘mature’. They may ‘not’ be mentally mature- but, how many 18 year olds are?

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By: john

john — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:25:33 +0000

a 14 year boy will be having sex anyway.
wake up people kid are having sex younger and younger. if a boy 14 years old has sex with a 14 or 15 year old girl he can be charge with sexual assault regardless of consent from the girl. we need to address the laws regarding sex in this country. is the boy being harmed by having sex with a 22 year old as appose t o a 15 year old? probably not it just looks bad.

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By: Other Karen

Other Karen — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:16:34 +0000

I’m not keen on 14 year olds having sex with anyone, but I probably matured later in that arena. Our society brings up sexuality very early–five year olds asked my friend about French kisses! And offers of sex are pretty hard for most teenage boys to resist.

It just made me sad in high school that so many 16 year old girls were dating guys 8 or 10 years older than them.

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By: Brenda

Brenda — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:42:45 +0000

Yuck, look at that belly shirt! And botox city. What a loser!

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By: Liverpool Ladies League

Liverpool Ladies League — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:46:50 +0000

Statutory rape-sexual intercourse with a girl/boy under the age of consent, which age varies in different states.
Usually if the oldest person involved is over 21 and the other isn’t that person is toast. If the oldest is under 21 then the state set age of consent comes into play.
There are circumstances in which sexual relations with a person under the age of consent are not a crime (or constitutes a less serious crime). The most common such qualifications are that both parties to the act are minors, or that the person to be charged is legally married to the minor or close in age to the minor.

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By: Mairead

Mairead — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:18:40 +0000

I agree with Roma - in general, victims of paedophilia are anonymous unless they allow their names to be published. Just because the media arbitrarily change the rules to suit themselves, doesn’t mean that it is acceptable to name him (or identify his family) in public.

To be honest, I’m not all that convinced that society thinks it’s “ok” for an older man to date a younger woman - I met a good friend of mine, who is nearly 20 years older than me at university when I was the standard age (18-21) and he was a mature student. Any time we hung out together I would notice all of these stares and nudges.

But in this case, the issue isn’t so much the acceptance of age differences, it’s the fact that one of the people involved was extremely young and below the legal age of consent for most countries, nevermind states.

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By: JennGush

JennGush — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:31:41 +0000

I think Billy Bob stole that shirt from his 14 y/o sons closet.

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By: donna

donna — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:40:42 +0000

It will all be over b4 its starts !!

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By: san juanean

san juanean — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:32:14 +0000

hum, what do you know…tmz has sunk to a new low… is anyone surprised? harvey levin is a pathetic gossip whore… he’d show sex tapes of his own mother to make a buck… yuck.. I don’t read anything from tmz and quickly change the channel when he shows his beguiled face when selling his gossip… he just creeps me out!

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By: elisha

elisha — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:26:12 +0000

Roma, as a journalist, the rules about reporting the names of minors change when celebrities are involved. Particularly in this case, it will not do him any further harm to have his name out there. In fact, it may actually do some good. By putting the news out there and raising the profile of this case, it shows that boys can be victims of sex crimes just as much as girls. It wouldn’t be a story without the celeb involvement and wouldn’t be getting the attention otherwise. Also, the attention may force police to actively look into the case when it otherwise may go ignored.

In other words, the benefits of reporting the boy’s name far outweigh the (non-existant) cons. So get off your high-horse.

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