Well, I misinterpreted your question. Granted, the child is not always unwilling, (although the vast majority is) I've read about a 12 year old girl who routinely had sex with older men (before she was tragically killed) The point I'm making is if something supposedly unnatural is okay, where do you draw the line? How do you know what's okay and what's not? You can't always say love justifies everything, because Michael Jackson apparently loved those young boys yet it would still be considered unacceptable, regardless if they were willing or not.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Oh, the line is quite easy. Consent. If two or more people consent to performing an activity, then that is no one's business but their own. Children are not capable of making an informed decision with regard to sexual activity, so they cannot consent to it. Therefore any sexual activity performed with them is a form of rape.
I don't see the slippery slope. Look at something else Children can't do. Voting for instance. Where do you draw the line? How do you know who should be allowed to vote? I mean, if you start letting the poor or the women vote, how do you know that letting kids vote is a bad idea? Yet which countries that accepted universal sufferage ended up letting the kids vote? Historically, we seem to have had no trouble at all defining children as special cases under the law. They have different protections and diferent rights. The same holds true here for sexual consent.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Well said.