Little Lass on Nostr: Getting intimately involved with a kid is almost certainly abusive and harmful, ...

Getting intimately involved with a kid is almost certainly abusive and harmful, whether that harm comes immediately or later... or much much later. And I have plenty of concerns regarding motives, consent, etc etc.

However, setting all that aside, if at the present moment the kid believes that nothing is wrong, then reporting that MAP would itself be an act that causes harm. In the hands of the state their relationship would surely be ripped apart, against the current wishes of the minor. They then see a person they currently love and care about jailed, imprisoned, seemingly unfairly from their perspective. They are told by "experts" that they are a victim and that the person who they love harmed them. No family or friends support them in their wish to see that MAP, talk to them, receive comfort from them, straining those relationships. Nearly all the focus is on punishing the adult in the situation, but in that punitive zeal, they forget that their actions punish and hurt the minor as well, who continues to suffer long after the relationship has ended, maybe their entire life. Is the adult primarily to blame for selfishly entering such a relationship and creating this whole situation? Yes. But again, there are other issues here.

The question really is whether the harm of getting the state involved greater than just letting the abusive relationship continue until they break it off themselves? In my opinion, yes it is. Because it's clear to me that the state doesn't really care about the minor that much. And as self-serving as the adults actions are, the relationship is real. So, if I, as an anti-c MAP, were to report such a relationship, would I not also be partially responsible for the suffering and harm caused by getting the state involved? Perhaps not in the eyes of the law, but ethically, yes, I believe I would be.

To be clear, none of this is to help the MAP, it's to prevent even more harm being done to the child than is already being done. If the kid is being forced into it, being physically injured, trying to escape, asking for help, crying out, etc then I'm fully on the kid's side and the only ethical choice is to report. At that point I'm unconcerned with the fate of the person abusing them, whether they're a MAP or not.