I admit this whole situation bothers me in part because, in high school, I actually knew a kid (14 at the time) who could pass for 18, had a fake ID and made a habit out of picking up older guys for one-night stands and lying to them about his age.
He was a fucked-up kid, and I think, looking back, that what he really needed was years of therapy, but I would be very, very hesitant to call the guys he picked up (mostly college kids who thought he was a high school graduate) rapists or predators. One of them was in a GSA group I attended a few meetings of, and that dude nearly threw up when he found out his hookup's real age.
Add a major drug problem into that kind of "grossly underage person lies about their age to pursue sex with adults" situation and whether there's legal culpability or not I just can't bring myself to assign Bowie moral culpability.
dda
He was a fucked-up kid, and I think, looking back, that what he really needed was years of therapy, but I would be very, very hesitant to call the guys he picked up (mostly college kids who thought he was a high school graduate) rapists or predators. One of them was in a GSA group I attended a few meetings of, and that dude nearly threw up when he found out his hookup's real age.
Add a major drug problem into that kind of "grossly underage person lies about their age to pursue sex with adults" situation and whether there's legal culpability or not I just can't bring myself to assign Bowie moral culpability.