>This may be a controversial opinion, but... in the great list of mortal sins, I don't find it ranks particularly high. Welcome to HN, where a 55 year old man

>This may be a controversial opinion, but... in the great list of mortal sins, I don't find it ranks particularly high. Welcome to HN, where a 55 year old man having sex with a 16 year old girl is "not a great look". Throw in the power and money imbalance, and still "not a great look". Throw in that the child was having sex for money, at a time when she should've been concerned with getting good grades in high school, but it really should be a choice for high schoolers to engage in dangerous and - as it is - damaging acts like prostitution, so yup, "not a great look". A "red flag" perhaps. We don't let 16 year olds drive cars (without restriction), buy cigarettes and alcohol, skip school (in some jurisdictions), or, hell, work full time or at hazardous occupations (in CA at least) for good reasons, but it somehow should be a choice to engage in prostitution, because the letter of the law in Alabama permits 16 year olds to have sex. No, I don't think it's fine to feel that way, and I don't think the parent's opinion is "controversial". A rich 55-year-old paying for sex with an 11th graderis very much un-controversially a bad thing no matter how you wrap it, and no matter what the laws are in Alabama, medieval Europe, or Mars. Please don't be an apologist for child abuse. It's not a great look.