Pedophilia Culture: Is it Love or Statutory Rape?
When I was growing up, I absolutely loved the show Pretty Little Liars. The series follows the lives of four high school girls whose lives dramatically changed after one of their dear friends disappeared. The show also happens to feature a multitude of romantic relationships between these young teenage girls and different adult figures in their lives; the most prominent relationship being between high school-aged Aria, played by Lucy Hale, and her English teacher Ezra, played by Ian Harding. What’s devastating is that, as a young girl, I viewed this relationship as perfectly legitimate in the name of love. I didn’t realize how clearly the show was romanticizing pedophilia until recently.
The fact that this show was overwhelmingly popular and has not received criticism on the inappropriate student-teacher relationships until recently demonstrates just how normalized pedophilia is within our culture. Since this show was especially popular for young girls, it serves as a justification for adult-minor relationships. Consequently, it tells young girls that it is perfectly appropriate for an adult to approach them in a sexual manner.
On the other side, media and societal stereotypes overtly push women to display their youngest features. Body hair on women is deemed morally distraught regardless of the fact that the only women without natural body hair are children. Is it gross for a young girl to have leg hair or does the stigmatization of body hair represent how society romanticizes pedophilia? Videos titled “Just turned 18” or “School girl gone wild” on porn websites will easily get millions of hits, showcasing again how pedophilic relationships are bolstered in our society.
The influence of media sources in both romanticizing and justifying pedophilia come to the forefront in the form of catcalling. Personally, I first started getting catcalled, usually by men aged 50 plus, when I was 14—I was very clearly underage. What’s disheartening is that the majority of my female friends can say the same. Not only are many underaged girls undoubtedly sexualized by older men in our society but they are also often approached by men in their 20s expecting sex or relationships. And when a high school girl gets into a relationship with someone college aged they are seen by their peers as beautiful and exceptionally mature, while the relationships usually exhibit clear power dynamics and pedophilic tendencies. In both the case of catcalling and large age-gapped relationships: pedophilia is ever present. If TV shows like Pretty Little Liars and porn websites alike were to stop practically promoting these relationships, maybe more people would be able to see the signs when a teenager is not in a loving relationship with an adult, but is actually a victim of pedophilia.
