Why do you and the poster above keep coming back to “other countries” and their differing ages of consent? We don’t give a fuck what backwards shit other countries do; this is a US-centric board, and in the US this shit is not kosher.

The “blatant vs. non-blatant” pedophilia argument is also a total strawman, and I think you’re actually disingenuously representing the MAGA argument here. We’re obviously talking about adult sexualization of young children — not the instances in which 16 year olds and 18 year olds are dating, which is common.

If the OP on Reddit had clarified, we might be able to have a productive conversation. But that’s his job; and his problem, not ours, that he didn’t qualify his argument well enough. It is not obvious to me at all what he apparently meant, so it’s no surprise most of us are reacting negatively to the post. When you title a post “What’s wrong with pedophilia?” full-stop without any qualifiers other than “as long as they’re not raping anyone and have consent,” and “what even is a child anyway,” we are going to side-eye it / rail against it — and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Pedophilic actions are generally taken to mean “rape and without consent” (which is saying the same thing twice, btw) and if you’re talking about something else or trying to redefine the meaning of the word child or even the word pedophilia, it’s up to you to clarify. In fact, the redditor specifically mentions prepubescent boys near the end, so your entire defense is null and void.

I mean, for fuck’s sake. If we have to explain who is considered a child in the United States of America, you are not worthy of engaging on this subject. We do not need to identify a gold standard — it is obvious, it already exists, and any inherently moral person does not need this explained to them.

Christian moral absolutism is the foundation of this country, whether you like it or not. And it is the exact opposite of what makes us weak.