i just recently got caught up with comic. still lovin’ it.

I never said there was a 30+ year old having a relationship with a 10-15 year old in this comic. I was talking in generalities, and have been this entire conversation.

I don’t need to sit here and list research backing up what is otherwise common sense.

Are you seriously going to sit there and tell me that a relationship between a 10-15 year old child with a 30+ year old adult would not be harmful?

You did say there was research backing up your claim and I find the topic really interesting–cross-cultural studies are so fascinating! Can you please cite them? Otherwise it’s just you stating your opinion and I’d be so much more interested in hearing a wider perspective

A direct quote is different from context. Anyone can take a word, a sentence, a paragraph, and misinterpret it. It should have been obvious from context I wasn’t attempting to flaunt my intelligent in a conceited way and only meant to suggest I knew what I was talking about.

eggnut,

I realize that there are cultural difference between regions and nations, but it doesn’t take an intelligent mind backed with studies to know sex at a young age with an older person causes more harm than benefits.

No, I don’t feel that the purpose of literature is to have a moral or lesson, but I do feel that a writer should take responsibility for what they write and not portray something wrong without repercussions of some sort, though I’ve already seen such repercussions in the comic already so she obviously has taken some responsibility. Literature is telling a story with characters so real you can believe their story is real as well.

I guess I feel that this comic is a very well-done portrayal of what relationships begun at a young age *can* look like….it’s simply one story, being told by one person. It’s not, as far as I know, meant to be a polemic that teaches us how we “ought” to regard teenage sexual relationships. I don’t get the impression that Rene considers it her job to preach to us through the mouthpiece of her characters. She’s telling a story about what a particular group of characters. Maybe you have a different idea about what the function of literature should be.

You can feel that way if you like, but I was merely giving examples of my credentials. I never suggested I was an expert, nor that the knowledge I have is incredibly “more so”, just that I wanted to get the point across that I wasn’t projecting an ignorant, pop-perception of Freudian psychology.

Anyone can say “I think so and so, psycho-babble” simply because they watched some cartoons featuring a caricature of Freud or have seen an episode of Law and Order, and I wanted to say “I have some background.”

So yeah. It amuses me more that you’re jumping to such conclusions just because I said one minor thing that wasn’t even the focus of my discussion. Not everyone on the Internet that suggests they’re a little smart is completely arrogant and conceited.

Cheers