Pp that is the whole point I was trying to get across.
Like sure in many cases a 16 and 23 yr old are probably not the best combo but in many cases it will be okay and it doesn't inherently make the 23 yr old a predator or creep. It would be concerning if a 23 yr old has only ever dated 16/17 year olds, but sometimes people just click.

One of my very best friends in the world is 20 years older than me. Her and I just click and we have a great friendship. I'm so glad she never had that mentality of "I could never hang out with a youngster " when we met about 6 years ago

If behaviour is held to a moral standard then it transcends the time it happens in otherwise we can say racism and slavery were acceptable because society viewed it as OK back then. If pedophilia is morally wrong and 23 year olds are sexual predators, then they were just as much sexual predators back then. Except of course they weren't and 23 year olds today aren't automatically sexual predators either.

Sexual predators deliberately target someone they perceive as weaker than themselves in order to commit something they know is wrong. There will be a lot of 23 year olds like this no doubt but they'd be that way at any age. Yaya just told us full maturity doesn't happen until around mid 20s. In my experience girls tend to mature at a quicker rate than boys. A 23 year old male who's still a little immature falling in love with a very mature 16 year old and views her as an equal isn't automatically being predatory. That's just common sense. Because age them both 10 years and no one would blink twice. I don't agree with it. I think it's too young but to automatically label someone a sexual predator based purely on that one aspect is premature.

I'm kind of shocked that there is someone that would be okay with their 16 year old dating a 23 year old. lol

I'm just thinking something has to be wrong with a 23 year old man that is wanting to date a sixteen year old little girl.

In Canada it’s legal 16 the age of consent, at that age you can also move out , get a job (can’t work under 16) and you can also get married .
The age for drinking/buying cigarettes is either 18-19 depending the province and 18 to buy lottery tickets
So maybe our way of thinking is different because we consider people young adults at an earlier age and in psych we’re taught your a young adult from 17-24 so being in the same age group makes it less creepish

Many many years ago, the field of mental health would perform lobotomies in the blink of an eye. Surely, they didn’t know much about the maturity levels of a 16 year old vs a 23 year old. Not to mention life expectancy wasn’t nearly as old as it is now. So yes, back then, my grandparents were just fine and viewed as typical by society when they married older or younger partners.

Many things that were acceptable then, are not now, and the reason why... is we know better, live longer in this case, and we can adapt to the now.

Still think 16 yr olds are kids & when my daughter wants to date, their can only be a 2 yr age Gap at the most. I will never let her get in a relationship when she's underage with someone who isn't that can buy cigarettes & drink they know how to manipulate kids minds & either way what does a 16 yr old have to offer a 23 yr old nothing at that's stage my daughter should be thinking about going to college & wanting to hang out with friends.

It's also legal to marry your cousins in some places but does that make it ok?

I'm a bit confused honestly. Is it that age of consent laws now exist that make people think a 23 yr old is a sexual predator? Not saying I think as a rule it's OK but a couple of generations ago that age gap and around that age was pretty normal for marriage. So what that basically means is that many, many people's grandfathers or great grandfathers were sexual predators...

Yea but it's not illegal everywhere so theres that....

So I'm on a high horse because I think something like this is wrong and a 16 y.o is still a child... oh wait, it's also illegal so there's that.

@poison no I wasnt I was talking to @ttdub.

Kids do sneak around but when I was 16 dating a 24 year old my parents called the cops. As they should have. I’m very glad they did now that I’m 24 and have matured.

My parents stopped claiming me at 15?
Stay on your highhorse all you want but if my children had an awesome partner at 16/17 and their partners were early 20's I'd support it as long as they were being responsible and respectful of one another.

I hope you're not talking to me Mamabird.

Who actually wants their 16 year old to sneak around and date a 23 year old. I'm guessing not very many. Does it still happen? Uh yeah.

If your parents still claim you as a dependent on their taxes, I don't care how "mature" you think you are, you are still a child.

I hope you expect better from your children.