Underage sex and "Make a Wish" foundation

[Darth Wong]

OK boys and girls, here's an ethical dilemma for you: a 14 year old boy is dying of leukemia. The "Make a Wish" foundation wants to grant him his wish. Unlike most people, this kid is strikingly honest, so he says the truth: he wants to get laid by an adult woman before he dies.

Problem: sex with a 14 year old is illegal. Many would also feel that it is terribly immoral. Any woman who committed this act could be looking at imprisonment and being marked for life as a sex offender.

And yet, would it not be ethical to grant him his last wish? The term "statutory rape" would seem almost absurd in this case, would it not? What are you going to say, "Wait until you're 18?" He's not going to make it that long, folks.

[Melchior]

It would be clearly ethical to grant him his wish; after all, he obviously will not be harmed by the act. People who would think that it would be immoral are just irrational sexophobes.
The main problem would reside in the fact that accommodating for this kind of situation in the law could prove difficult.

[Kanastrous]

I'd grant the wish. Find a clever lawyer willing to lay out how to make it difficult/impossible for a prosecutor to charge, and follow his instructions carefully.

[Surlethe]

Leaving aside for a moment the question of legal consequences, would sex between this particular 14 year old male and an adult woman be unethical? Broadly speaking, it seems there are four possible channels of harm here: physical and emotional both ways. I think we've established in previous threads that there is not significant harm, emotional or physical, to teenage boys who have sex. The problem is with unhealthy boy-woman relationships - and because this is a one-off event, that doesn't apply here.

Because the woman is fully developed, there will be no physical harm to her. There is a question of emotional harm, but I don't think it's a large one because not only is she a consenting adult, but she's actually doing him the favor of granting him his last wish.

So there doesn't seem to be anything fundamentally unethical with this scenario aside from putting a woman in the crosshairs of the law. This could be resolved by asking for women to volunteer, so only ones who are willing to risk being labeled sex offenders would step forward. This could also be resolved under the table by slipping the boy some cash and having him hire a prostitute, who is already a legally marked woman.

Come to think of it, this would make an excellent movie: a woman is living with the mark of "sex offender" because she gave a teenager his last wish, and she has to deal with it.

[Rye]

I suppose you could fly him to South Carolina and visit the local whores. I wouldn't risk my own ass (or the woman's ass) if I can't do that, though. I might go as far as to supply him with a fleshlight and porn in a pinch.

[Kodiak]

Come to think of it, this would make an excellent movie: a woman is living with the mark of "sex offender" because she gave a teenager his last wish, and she has to deal with it.

Sort of a modern day "Scarlet Letter"? I like the premise. Would it be easier to make the situation legal if they were to take the happy couple to a country that didn't have these laws?

[Singular Intellect]

OK boys and girls, here's an ethical dilemma for you: a 14 year old boy is dying of leukemia. The "Make a Wish" foundation wants to grant him his wish. Unlike most people, this kid is strikingly honest, so he says the truth: he wants to get laid by an adult woman before he dies.

Problem: sex with a 14 year old is illegal. Many would also feel that it is terribly immoral. Any woman who committed this act could be looking at imprisonment and being marked for life as a sex offender.

My first question is where would Make A Wish Foundation find such a woman? (I daresay they'd actually just refuse the wish, but that's not the issue)

I'm guessing most argueably 'normal' women aren't going to be interested in having sex with a fourteen year old, dying or not...are they then going to search known pedophiles for a candidate?

And yet, would it not be ethical to grant him his last wish? The term "statutory rape" would seem almost absurd in this case, would it not? What are you going to say, "Wait until you're 18?" He's not going to make it that long, folks.

I think the more pressing problem is finding a suitable candidate and then realizing if said candidate is willing to have sex with a minor in this instance, they would be willing elsewhere too. At the very least they are going to be labelled, and I think it's obvious that any respectable woman isn't going to go for it. And even some woman who might willingly do such a thing privately would likely want to avoid the publicity of the event as well.

As depressing as it may be for the kid, real harm here is possible, and that would be for the woman in question. Admittedly the kid is going to miss a human experience, but it is only one of many potential experiences he is going to lose.

Realistically I think Make A Wish has it pretty easy here; they can dismiss the wish as illegal in nature and therefore they cannot grant it.

[Shinova]

This is all dependent on whether a clever lawyer can let the woman get away with it legally. If we take the situation to the letter though and it's guaranteed that any woman who commits the act will face imprisonment and be labelled as a sex offender, then I'm not too keen on granting the kid his wish. It's one dying kid's wish versus a healthy adult's life and future. And no matter how honorable her act might seem, some if not most employers are going to follow the letter of the law or their policies and bar or make it difficult for the woman to find employment.


Maybe if the woman was fully volunteering (and maybe is already well off for life and a sex offender label won't really do much) then it should be okay.

[LadyTevar]

Find a 17yr old.

Statutory Rape has a 'over three years apart' disclaimer in most states.
To a 14yr old, a 17yr old high school cheerleader is 'an adult woman'. Problem (mostly) solved.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

If the law is the primary issue, why not just commit the act in a state or country where the age of consent is 14 or below?

[Yogi]

If the law is the primary issue, why not just commit the act in a state or country where the age of consent is 14 or below?

I'm not a lawyer, but I think there are some legal issues with this, the same way someone can't go to *Insert third world country here* to have sex with underage kids.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Find a 17yr old.

Statutory Rape has a 'over three years apart' disclaimer in most states.
To a 14yr old, a 17yr old high school cheerleader is 'an adult woman'. Problem (mostly) solved.

One problem:

Unlike most people, this kid is strikingly honest, so he says the truth: he wants to get laid by an adult woman before he dies.

The OP's criteria rules out 17 year olds in the US and quite a few other countries.

If legal problems weren't an issue, and the woman found were completely consenting, then I fail to see the problem with it.

But with the laws in the US at least, fulfilling this boy's wish would carry a high risk of seriously harming the woman's life. And, sorry, but the woman's right not to be jailed and branded for life takes priority over the dying kid's wants.

[Zixinus]

A fairly simple solution for keeping the lettuce and feeding the goat: do this under cover.

Hire a prostitute who's willing to do it, give a cover story. Prostitute may or may not know what she's getting into, but I think it might worth it to let her know. And label the prostitute as "massager" or some shit like that.

The "some shit like that" is going to be the hard part, but in essence, you have make it look like that what they are doing isn't sex. I can't think of anything from the top of my head, but it doesn't have to be something overtly elaborate: just enough to fool a passing investigation. I doubt there is serious and deep look into "make a wish" foundation's operations, case by case. Make sure that there is little evidence beyond this, plus make the kid promise that he won't be talking about this.

This way, everyone's happy. Prostitute gets paid safe, kid gets his wish, MAWF gets its call fufilled.

Another solution is to find a girl about the same age and roughly same situation then let the two get on.

[Spyder]

Find a 17yr old.

Statutory Rape has a 'over three years apart' disclaimer in most states.
To a 14yr old, a 17yr old high school cheerleader is 'an adult woman'. Problem (mostly) solved.

I think there's a 'solicitation of a minor' issue there, not too familiar with how those sex laws work.

I'd just fly him out to one of those anything goes countries.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

A fairly simple solution for keeping the lettuce and feeding the goat: do this under cover.

Hire a prostitute who's willing to do it, give a cover story. Prostitute may or may not know what she's getting into, but I think it might worth it to let her know. And label the prostitute as "massager" or some shit like that.

Hey, it works for Craigslist, right?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I think what Tevar is saying is that you could find a teenaged girl who looked like an adult to have sex with him. Claiming she's 18 isn't exactly going to hurt his mind or violate his wish if he believes it, and 17 year olds can regularly pass for much older than 18.

[ArmorPierce]

OK boys and girls, here's an ethical dilemma for you: a 14 year old boy is dying of leukemia. The "Make a Wish" foundation wants to grant him his wish. Unlike most people, this kid is strikingly honest, so he says the truth: he wants to get laid by an adult woman before he dies.

Problem: sex with a 14 year old is illegal. Many would also feel that it is terribly immoral. Any woman who committed this act could be looking at imprisonment and being marked for life as a sex offender.

And yet, would it not be ethical to grant him his last wish? The term "statutory rape" would seem almost absurd in this case, would it not? What are you going to say, "Wait until you're 18?" He's not going to make it that long, folks.

No reason not to. The law is there to protect children from exploitation. If he's going to die soon there is little to protect from exploitation.

[ArmorPierce]

Find a 17yr old.

Statutory Rape has a 'over three years apart' disclaimer in most states.
To a 14yr old, a 17yr old high school cheerleader is 'an adult woman'. Problem (mostly) solved.

Of course then you are breaking the law double ways. Although I'm for getting an adult woman to do this, I am repulsed by the idea of recruiting a minor to do it.

I believe that this actually happened in a hospital in Australia to a 15 year old boy and the hospital went through with it.

[Themightytom]

OK boys and girls, here's an ethical dilemma for you: a 14 year old boy is dying of leukemia. The "Make a Wish" foundation wants to grant him his wish. Unlike most people, this kid is strikingly honest, so he says the truth: he wants to get laid by an adult woman before he dies.

Problem: sex with a 14 year old is illegal. Many would also feel that it is terribly immoral. Any woman who committed this act could be looking at imprisonment and being marked for life as a sex offender.

And yet, would it not be ethical to grant him his last wish? The term "statutory rape" would seem almost absurd in this case, would it not? What are you going to say, "Wait until you're 18?" He's not going to make it that long, folks.

Why the F didn't I think of that when i was fourteen!!!

[Oni Koneko Damien]

No reason not to. The law is there to protect children from exploitation. If he's going to die soon there is little to protect from exploitation.

And in the US, these laws have never been used to fuck over people who've done nothing ethically wrong, like charging a minor with exploitation for taking nude pictures of... herself.

Not saying you don't have a valid point, just saying that the legal system here is made up of blind, puritanical fuckwits.

[Stuart]

OK boys and girls, here's an ethical dilemma for you: a 14 year old boy is dying of leukemia. The "Make a Wish" foundation wants to grant him his wish. Unlike most people, this kid is strikingly honest, so he says the truth: he wants to get laid by an adult woman before he dies.

Problem: sex with a 14 year old is illegal. Many would also feel that it is terribly immoral. Any woman who committed this act could be looking at imprisonment and being marked for life as a sex offender.

And yet, would it not be ethical to grant him his last wish? The term "statutory rape" would seem almost absurd in this case, would it not? What are you going to say, "Wait until you're 18?" He's not going to make it that long, folks.

No ethical dilemma at all. Hire a call-girl from out-of-town. Get the job done fast, get her out of town with a big fat check. Burn the records. Problem solved. Boy gets his, lady gets a well-paid evening's work. Anybody who tries to investigate hits a dead end.

[Darksider]

[

No ethical dilemma at all. Hire a call-girl from out-of-town. Get the job done fast, get her out of town with a big fat check. Burn the records. Problem solved. Boy gets his, lady gets a well-paid evening's work. Anybody who tries to investigate hits a dead end.

if they use a check, there will be records that they can't burn.

Better to pay the lady in cash[/b]

[Alferd Packer]

Leaving aside for a moment the question of legal consequences, would sex between this particular 14 year old male and an adult woman be unethical? Broadly speaking, it seems there are four possible channels of harm here: physical and emotional both ways. I think we've established in previous threads that there is not significant harm, emotional or physical, to teenage boys who have sex. The problem is with unhealthy boy-woman relationships - and because this is a one-off event, that doesn't apply here.

If I follow this right, we could make a case that we would not facilitate the opposite: that is, a terminally-ill 14 year-old girl who wants to have sex with an adult man before she dies. The potential for physical and emotional harm done to the girl is quite a bit greater than than the original scenario, so the request should be denied.

[Winston Blake]

I've been thinking about this for a while already, but I haven't been able to resolve it. It's a thorny issue. I'll just go ahead and lay out the points that are giving me trouble, maybe others can help clear them up:

- If it's OK for a 14 year old, why not 13? Why not 9? Or younger?

- What about a 14 year old girl who wishes for sex with an adult man? (It would have to be non-penetrative to be equivalent to the OP scenario).

- What about a 9 year old girl and a middle-aged man?

For that last scenario, I doubt the people in this thread would be as quick to suggest the equivalents of visiting the local whores, a clever lawyer, a partner within the legal range, a flight to a country where it's legal, or a flight to an 'anything goes' country.

I'm not presenting any conclusions - please don't bite my head off, guys.

[Winston Blake]

...and Alferd Packer beats me to the reversal while I'm hemming and hawing.

If I follow this right, we could make a case that we would not facilitate the opposite: that is, a terminally-ill 14 year-old girl who wants to have sex with an adult man before she dies. The potential for physical and emotional harm done to the girl is quite a bit greater than than the original scenario, so the request should be denied.

Physically, consider the case of non-penetrative sex. Emotionally, why is it greater? Male/female brain differences?