Matt Gaetz Is Said to Be Investigated Over Possible Sexual Relationship With a Girl,

[solinari6]

I've been thinking about this, trying to figure out why this is bothering me, and I've come down with this:

At age 17, you are old enough to know:
1. prostitution is illegal
2. you are legally too young for sex
3. engaging in underage prostitution will not only fuck up your life, but your johns

IF this girl willingly signed up at SeekingArrangements.com (and as far as we know, that's where they found these girls), then I have absolutely no sympathy for her. That doesn't absolve Matt from checking her ID, and absolutely doesn't absolve him if he knew she was underage.

IMHO sex work should be legalized (for adults). Then sites like SeekingArrangments.com could be forced to actually verify that everyone that uses their site is of legal age.

[Mihalik]

At age 17, you are old enough to know:
1. prostitution is illegal
2. you are legally too young for sex
3. engaging in underage prostitution will not only fuck up your life, but your johns.

Have you ever interacted with a fucking 17 year old?

17 year old's are fucking babies, dumb, stupid, mouth breathing babies.

While technically you aren't much smarter by 18, we have to draw the line somewhere.

Now quit the fucking victim blaming. It's disgusting and it makes you disgusting.

[Breccia]

IF this girl willingly signed up

I find it hard to disagree with this, tho there might be legal issues w.r.t. she's under 18 and can't technically consent.

[Ivanstone]

I've been thinking about this, trying to figure out why this is bothering me, and I've come down with this:

At age 17, you are old enough to know:
1. prostitution is illegal
2. you are legally too young for sex
3. engaging in underage prostitution will not only fuck up your life, but your johns

At age 36, you are old enough to know:
1. prostitution is illegal
2. you can't legally fuck people too young for sex
3. engaging in underage prostitution will fuck up your life
4. you really, really shouldn't be doing it if you're a lawmaker and definitely shouldn't be the only guy voting against a sex trafficking bill

Seems you can be dumb at any age.

[solinari6]

At age 36, you are old enough to know:
1. prostitution is illegal
2. you can't legally fuck people too young for sex
3. engaging in underage prostitution will fuck up your life
4. you really, really shouldn't be doing it if you're a lawmaker and definitely shouldn't be the only guy voting against a sex trafficking bill

Seems you can be dumb at any age.

Absolutely.

[draynay]

I've been thinking about this, trying to figure out why this is bothering me, and I've come down with this:

At age 17, you are old enough to know:
1. prostitution is illegal
2. you are legally too young for sex
3. engaging in underage prostitution will not only fuck up your life, but your johns

IF this girl willingly signed up at SeekingArrangements.com (and as far as we know, that's where they found these girls), then I have absolutely no sympathy for her. That doesn't absolve Matt from checking her ID, and absolutely doesn't absolve him if he knew she was underage.

IMHO sex work should be legalized (for adults). Then sites like SeekingArrangments.com could be forced to actually verify that everyone that uses their site is of legal age.

I'm checking for where the law says the victim needs to be sympathetic to solinari6 and I'm not finding it.

[solinari6]

I'm checking for where the law says the victim needs to be sympathetic to solinari6 and I'm not finding it.

I wasn't aware that our opinions always had to align exactly with the law. Is big brother watching?

[Lynarii]

I wasn't aware that our opinions always had to align exactly with the law. Is big brother watching?

No, but it's questionable that you think that anyone's opinion of the person being sex trafficked is relevant to how bad the perpetrator's actions are. There's a reason why victim blaming is considered to be a bad thing, and it's kinda sickening that you're laser focused on discussing whether or not the girl deserved to be statutory raped.

And as to the fact that it happened in the Bahamas, sex tourism is ALSO illegal.

[Breccia]

And as to the fact that it happened in the Bahamas, sex tourism is ALSO illegal.

“Sex tourism” is defined as travel planned specifically for the purpose of sex, generally to a country where sex work is legal.

[Dontrike]

Again, as of right now, we don’t know the specifics of that relationship

We actually know quite a bit, between payments found and a confession being made. At this point you're just trying to walk away from it because you feel it's okay, when in reality the law states that he in fact did a bunch of bad shit.

Also, just because Nevada allows you to buy prostitutes doesn't mean it's okay in other states.

- - - Updated - - -

Because the very first page of this thread has people automatically jumping on the he’s a pedo-train cause he may have had sex with a *gasp* 17 year old.

That’s ridiculous, and by definition, not true. She was 17, get a damn grip.

There's no "may" about it. He absolutely did, we have the payments of that very thing.

[LilSaihah]

Child on SA? Should get a slap on the wrist. Community service or some shit.
Adult who was grooming child on SA? A nice dark cell for the rest of their days. What kind of retard do you have to be, seriously

[Dontrike]

S/he knows the point, they’re choosing to miss it because why waste time on context when you can just enjoy some good solid outrage.

Even with proper context it's not any better, but in fact worse. This is a strange hill you're willing to die on here.

[noidentity]

Considering fratboy wannabe Gaetz went out of his way to his his Venmo transactions using code words means he knew exaclty what he was doing.

Also lets not forgot he loved to share/show pictures of his "girlfriends" on the house floor.

[Santti]

I’ve said it numerous times - I’m not okay with the trafficking and all the other shit he did. I just find it funny and hypocritical that people are getting all worked up about her age (17) and calling him a pedo, just because FL is one of few states where 18 is the age of consent.

He’s not a pedo. He’d be a sex offender... along with some other titles based on his crimes.

I see what you mean, but honestly, the other states are no more relevant than all the other countries. The states set their own rules, and the rules are strict for a reason.

I mean, would your stance really be any different, if the age of consent was 18 in most (if not all) of the states (or countries), and not just few of them? Because it kinda sounds like that's what this seems to boil down with you. (Btw, is this also an appeal to popularity?)

[Machismo]

When you find yourself having no problem with a 60-year-old dude banging your 13-year-old kid...

You should probably just stop digging.

[Rozz]

We're not going to continue debating the age of consent and how it differs between communities. It's muddying discussion unnecessarily, so keep to the details around the case.

[Bodakane]

Illegal or legal, it is awful and gross behavior. When do we start demanding good behavior from the people elected to lead? And why does it seem, so many in government are so disgusting to begin with? This, more than anything, should tell us that our system is wrong because it rewards the shittiest behavior in our society.

[Poopymonster]

Illegal or legal, it is awful and gross behavior. When do we start demanding good behavior from the people elected to lead? And why does it seem, so many in government are so disgusting to begin with? This, more than anything, should tell us that our system is wrong because it rewards the shittiest behavior in our society.

They won't be help accountable for one reason.

[Dontrike]

I’ve said it numerous times - I’m not okay with the trafficking and all the other shit he did. I just find it funny and hypocritical that people are getting all worked up about her age (17) and calling him a pedo, just because FL is one of few states where 18 is the age of consent.

He’s not a pedo. He’d be a sex offender... along with some other titles based on his crimes.

Hypocritical? That would mean that they would have to be physically okay with that and no one has said anything of the sort to be "hypocritical" in the least bit.

Also not being okay with doing it with a 17 year old isn't a bad thing, you realize that?

[Mihalik]

He’s not a pedo. He’d be a sex offender... along with some other titles based on his crimes.

Sure. Technically, he isn't a pedo, technically.

But the social condemnation that equates him to a pedo is 100 warranted.

He likes 'em young because he is a fucking creep who gets off on that shit.

I'm one of those people who isn't inherently opposed to the idea of someone dating someone much younger. I'm currently dating someone who I met when she was 20 and I was 30.

But it was not something I pursued because I like them young. On the contrary, I was quite conflicted about it early on as I felt the age difference was too much, I didn't want to get invested into something that wasn't going to last and I felt we might not work because we might not have shared interest/outlooks.

The age difference was something we had to work on, especially the first year, now we've been together for 6 years and sometimes it's still an issue, but more because I feel weird about it, even after all this time, and sometimes I feel I'm judged when people find out that I'm 36 (tho I do look somewhat younger).

The point is that age really isn't just a number in this context, and Matt here clearly gets off on the unequal power dynamics that are specifically linked to age.

So yeah, he's a shit who gets off on diddling children. Just that he in this case diddled mostly girls skirting legality doesn't change who he is as a person. A creepy pedo.