Perhaps that's because most of HN is young enough to remember what it's like to be 16, and can empathize with being in that role more than you.

When I was 16, I was having sex with a woman who was - let's just say old enough to be prosecuted in California. It was great. If the right 55 year old came around, why the hell not?

I guess you'll claim that I'm an abused child. That's bollocks.

Or maybe you think that only girls need to be protected/infantilized?

Nobody is arguing for a world where teenagers turn tricks for a living. And sure this situation brings up all sorts of questions, and isn't "fine". But 16-18 is definitely in the grey zone of adulthood, and the majority of US states grant them a lot of sexual agency already. There's a big gap between "just fine" and "hang 'em!"

My moral judgement basically comes down to: How did the 16yo feel about it? It's really their interest we're advocating for, right?

>My moral judgement basically comes down to: How did the 16yo feel about it?

It keeps getting better!

I'll just note that on HN people think there's a question about how a 16 year old girl feels about having sex for money with a 55 year old known child abuser (old enough to be her grandfather).

Do I need to underline every word of the above sentence for people here to stop pretending this situation is something else?

This forum is full of programmers. Here, let me try logic:

    IF ((girl.age == 16)
        AND (girl.had_sex == TRUE)
        AND (partner.age == 55)
        AND (partner.is_rich_and_powerful == TRUE)  
        AND (girl.is_rich) == FALSE
        AND (partner.paid_for_sex == TRUE)
      ) 
    THEN
      girl.has_been_abused = TRUE

If you insist on "grey areas", replace the last line with

     girl.has_not_been_abused.probability = MACHINE_EPSILON

But sure, go ahead and paint me a world where the above doesn't hold, and Jeffrey Epstein just happened to be the right 55 year old for the 16 year old girl(s) he paid to have sex with.

You're howling at the wind. People on this forum, and in much of the rest of the world, have zero ability to empathize with someone that basically isn't their carbon copy. So you will never convince the person that you're responding to that being a middle class 16 year old girl and being paid for sex by a 55 year old billionaire, is not the most fun thing in the world, because that person is not (and probably never has been) a middle class 16 year old girl.

>You're howling at the wind.

Perhaps, but then there's all there more reason to do so. And thanks for lending your voice! Perhaps someone reading this will feel a bit better.