Anne Rice Trolls Twilight

[DigificWriter]

His body might not age, but he sure remembers being around for more than 17 years.

Bella wasn't underaged at any point during the series. And even if she was there was no pelvic relations until they were married, because Edward is an incredible prude.

She's seventeen years old.

Hmmm... according to the age of consent laws the age of consent is Sixteen in Washington, not 18 so.

So yes, it's not pedophilia.

But it is still icky.

BUT the Catch 22 is this: one has to be careful for Washington has a "Communicating with a minor for immoral purposes legislation" which has been used to selectively prosecute individuals who communicate with persons under 18 for purposes deemed "immoral." The penalty for a 1st offense is up to a year in jail, and for a 2nd or subsequent offense (or for any person who has previously been convicted of any sex offense in the United States) the penalty is up to 5 years in prison. Just asking can, under certain circumstances, land the offender in jail or prison. As the purposes of all "Age of Consent" laws are not to "protect" children, but, rather, to protect the family, it is not at all surprising that many states that have ages of consent that set the ages below 18 have hidden within their codes other laws that can be used to set a defacto Age of Consent of 18.

EDIT:

And the law states the person must not be more than 60 months older or it IS molestation.

If Edward - or any of the Cullens, for that matter - wanted to cultivate the appearance of physical aging, they could have used cosmetic means to do so. The fact that they don't, and the fact that they don't change their listed ages on any of the various forms of doctored legal documents they produce each time they move to a new place - means that, regardless of whether or not time passes for them as individuals, they do not alter their lives dramatically to reflect said passage of time.

Therefore, Edward, for all intents and purposes, is a 17-year-old male forever; time might pass and he might gain new experiences and the accompanying memories of those experiences, but he still remains 17 forever, both physically and 'legally'. Because Bella is 17 at the time they begin dating one another, and because she is of legal age by the time they get married and consummate that marriage, there is no aspect of their relationship which would at any time fall under any of the definitions of pedophilia that have been presented thus far.

Whether or not your body physically changes, when a year passes you are one year older.

Says who?

 

[Takeru]

She's seventeen years old.

Hmmm... according to the age of consent laws the age of consent is Sixteen in Washington, not 18 so.

So yes, it's not pedophilia.

Erm, even if the age of consent was 18 in Wahington, it still wouldn't be pedophilia, which was already explained in this thread several times.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Says who?

Um life? What else is age? I'm not just older because I have less hair on my head than 10 years ago, but because of the things I've done and experienced during that time.

 

[The Dominion]

Whether or not your body physically changes, when a year passes you are one year older.

Says who?

Father Time.

 

[Vulagr]

If Edward - or any of the Cullens, for that matter - wanted to cultivate the appearance of physical aging, they could have used cosmetic means to do so. The fact that they don't, and the fact that they don't change their listed ages on any of the various forms of doctored legal documents they produce each time they move to a new place - means that, regardless of whether or not time passes for them as individuals, they do not alter their lives dramatically to reflect said passage of time.

Therefore, Edward, for all intents and purposes, is a 17-year-old male forever; time might pass and he might gain new experiences and the accompanying memories of those experiences, but he still remains 17 forever, both physically and 'legally'. Because Bella is 17 at the time they begin dating one another, and because she is of legal age by the time they get married and consummate that marriage, there is no aspect of their relationship which would at any time fall under any of the definitions of pedophilia that have been presented thus far.

Says you, Team Cullen.

 

[chardman]

Look, I'm sorry everyone. I've been having bouts with insomnia. i'm existing on four hours of sleep in two days.

Um...yeah... I've been there. Just a couple of weeks ago in fact.

And just like you, I was dead wrong about something I'd posted, and refused to admit it, despite ample evidence to the contrary. (And believe me, you too are just plain wrong. Period. The fact that it's a common mistake, wrongly embraced by the masses, doesn't negate the fact that it's still wrong.)

The difference between us? I eventually admitted to my mistake, apologized. and stopped posting 'til I'd gotten some sleep, and could once again think and post like a fairly rational person.

 

[hyzmarca]

There are actual chemical changes that happen in the brain as a person ages. Assuming that those changes don't happen to Edward, he won't mature mentally the same way humans do.

That being said, he's pathetic. He's a super-powered immortal. Any normal 17 year old boy given superpowers is going to do some crazy shit with it, either doing superheroics or attempting to conquer the world. Or possibly extreme sports. At the very least he'd become a highly paid freelance CIA assassin.

And this is one of the signs that the book was written by a female for a female audience. In a male power fantasy the protagonist exercises that power. He kicks ass and takes names and claws his way to the top of the world. Edward is the brooding mysterious guy chicks want to bang who seems to exist for no other purpose than to be brooding and mysterious.

 

[Distorted Humor]

There are actual chemical changes that happen in the brain as a person ages. Assuming that those changes don't happen to Edward, he won't mature mentally the same way humans do.

That being said, he's pathetic. He's a super-powered immortal. Any normal 17 year old boy given superpowers is going to do some crazy shit with it, either doing superheroics or attempting to conquer the world. Or possibly extreme sports. At the very least he'd become a highly paid freelance CIA assassin.

And this is one of the signs that the book was written by a female for a female audience. In a male power fantasy the protagonist exercises that power. He kicks ass and takes named and claws his way to the top of the world. Edward is the brooding mysterious guy chicks want to bang who seems to exist for no other purpose than to by brooding and mysterious.

+1

 

[Vulagr]

Yeah. I really don't get why brooding guys attract chicks.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Look, I'm sorry everyone. I've been having bouts with insomnia. i'm existing on four hours of sleep in two days.

Um...yeah... I've been there. Just a couple of weeks ago in fact.

And just like you, I was dead wrong about something I'd posted, and refused to admit it, despite ample evidence to the contrary. (And believe me, you too are just plain wrong. Period. The fact that it's a common mistake, wrongly embraced by the masses, doesn't negate the fact that it's still wrong.)

The difference between us? I eventually admitted to my mistake, apologized. and stopped posting 'til I'd gotten some sleep, and could once again think and post like a fairly rational person.

A very astute observation. I was going to point out his hostility and unwillingness to admit his mistake, and it appears everyone already knows that.

 

[beamMe]

Yeah. I really don't get why brooding guys attract chicks.

Do they? Except for in books and films?

 

[Vulagr]

Do they? Except for in books and films?

As far as I know, yes.

 

[propita]

Pedophilia, according to society, is any legally adult male having sex with any under the age of consent female, regardless of how far apart in age they are.

Not wanting to get too much into this, but that’s the definition of statutory rape. Except I don’t believe it’s confined to "legally adult male"s and "under the age of consent female”s. Lots of adult female teachers (and possibly Justin Bieber) involved in this.

I thought pedophilia was the attraction of an adult to a prepubescent, that an action wasn’t required. Attraction isn’t a crime (might be a disorder or something); action is a crime.

But it appears to be well established in many various popular vampire mythologies - Meyer's, Rice's and Whedon's included - that when a person dies and becomes a vampire, then they remain that age forever, physically and emotionally. Edward is not 240 years old or whatever on an emotional level - he's a 19-year-old who's just been around for a long time. That makes this a normal teenage relationship from that persective, not anything even vaguely approaching pedophilia from either angle.

Really? There’s no emotional growth over all the years? I don’t think any of the authors/creators you cited followed that. Mind you, this isn’t a fight, just opinion.

Meyer: The new vampires in the family want human blood but are taught to refrain themselves and respect the humans enough to not wantonly eat them. And whats-his-name, the newest in the family, was still working on this. I realize this involves physical control, but the emotions are involved.

Rice: Lestat learned a lot over the books, becoming satisfied with his family. The only real vampire child seemed to mature emotionally (while obviously not physically), until she acted quite adult in many, not all, respects.

Whedon: Again, not many children, but Spike sure seemed to grow emotionally. Angel doesn’t really count because he was only “good” when he had a soul. Spike became “good” without one--or fought to get his back.

 

[Vulagr]

Spike got an inhibitor chip in his head which prevented him from harming people when he was captured by The Initiative. That was his first road to redemption. In other words it was forced upon him.

The only reason he got his soul was ebcause he wanted Buffy to love him as a man, and extremely selfish reasons.

The only good I ever actually seen him do is when he sacrificed his life in the series finale when he wore that amulet that annihilated all those proto vamps. and in the series finale of Angel.

In the series finale of Angel he volunteered to help Angel fight the apocalypse, so make that two selfless things.

 

[Neroon]

Look, I'm sorry everyone. I've been having bouts with insomnia. i'm existing on four hours of sleep in two days.

While I can identify with that to a degree (sleep apnea, here), it might be best if you avoided posting during times like that. The way you've been posting is certainly worthy of an infraction. We can let it slide this time, but check out the rules again so you're aware of what's what here.

Since the thread has cooled down, I won't lock it for now.

 

[Gojira]

The proper social usage is what I'm using, not irrelevant medical terminology. Stop trolling.

The social usage is wrong. Pedophilia is sexual attraction to children 13 years and younger. Ephebophilia is the term for sexual preference of adults for mid-to-late adolescents between the ages 15 to 19. Ephebophilia is not considered a disorder in the DSM-IV unless it results in dysfunction or exploitative behavior which it then falls under the diagnosis Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified.

 

[Vulagr]

Sigh. Whatever you say.

 

[Gojira]

Sigh. Whatever you say.

You do want to be accurate don't you?

 

[Vulagr]

At this point I don't care. Just drop the matter and let me be,

 

[Gojira]

At this point I don't care. Just drop the matter and let me be,

Sure, no problem.