Not every pedophile is a rapist.

[Losty]

How about another angle. Suppose someone is a legal adult, let's say well into adulthood at 35 years of age. Let's also say they are 100% psychologically mature (capable of consenting).

However let's say that despite being fully grown in height and size they have a condition where they haven't gone through puberty and they are therefore not biologically sexually mature.

If they consent is it immoral to have sex with this fully psychologically developed fully grown 35 year old if they aren't biologically sexually mature? If it is immoral then biological sexual maturity is most definitely a factor and not just consenting, psychological maturity and legality. If it is not immoral then biological sexual maturity is most definitely not a factor.

Psychological development is dependant upon the maturing biological development of the the brain so they could have a biologically sexually mature brain just not secondary sexual characteristics.

Consent is based upon a mature brain not body.

Ham has a good question that really addresses whether this is all psychological or if there's a biological reason that makes this an issue.

I'm sticking with my same response that I gave to Napo's example. It's obviously a very grey area. Exactly how delayed is the physical maturity. If the person is 35 and has the mind of a 35 year old but their body only matured to an average 14 year old then I'd say it's ok. But it greyer after that.

Obviously whatever an adult chooses to do with their own body is their own choice. But when you add other people in it becomes confusing. At some point of saying this 35 year old adult with a 35 year old mind and some illness that causes their physical growth to be stunted to a very young age you're going to come to a point when having sex with them could cause them physical harm. Which I think could cause psychological harm to both that person and whoever is having sex with them in the hypothetical. Whether or not it would be morally wrong is near impossible to say with any real conviction because it's not a real possibility. I wouldn't do it though. I wouldn't want to be responsible for hurting someone. And I think if your body never matured past puberty but your brain did and you're still saying you want to have sex...I might begin to doubt whether you're truly mentally capable of making these choices.

[Macoleco]

I dont see the point about discussing situations which are not real. Yes, it is interesting. But if you want to make decisions about the problem in reality is useless.

[FatAndFaithless]

Discussing hypotheticals can be both interesting and useful. It compels someone to describe and apply their morals to situations which might be far more complicated than what they encounter in everyday life, and can in turn help someone appreciate their morals more fully, or highlight flaws when one moral idea conflicts with another. Sure, some thought experiments can be tedious and rather silly, but just because a situation hasn't personally happened to you doesn't mean it isn't worth discussing.

[Losty]

I dont see the point about discussing situations which are not real. Yes, it is interesting. But if you want to make decisions about the problem in reality is useless.

The point of a thought experiment is to provoke thought...

It helps people to consider things from angles they've never thought of before.

[Edwardo Piet]

I just love thought experiments.

It's the only kind of experimenting I'm actually any good at after all

Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, I'm relatively good at a few or maybe several kinds of experimentation but not many. But especially thought experiments.

[BrokenQuill92]

Psychological development is dependant upon the maturing biological development of the the brain so they could have a biologically sexually mature brain just not secondary sexual characteristics.

Consent is based upon a mature brain not body.

Ham has a good question that really addresses whether this is all psychological or if there's a biological reason that makes this an issue.

I'm sticking with my same response that I gave to Napo's example. It's obviously a very grey area. Exactly how delayed is the physical maturity. If the person is 35 and has the mind of a 35 year old but their body only matured to an average 14 year old then I'd say it's ok. But it greyer after that.

Obviously whatever an adult chooses to do with their own body is their own choice. But when you add other people in it becomes confusing. At some point of saying this 35 year old adult with a 35 year old mind and some illness that causes their physical growth to be stunted to a very young age you're going to come to a point when having sex with them could cause them physical harm. Which I think could cause psychological harm to both that person and whoever is having sex with them in the hypothetical. Whether or not it would be morally wrong is near impossible to say with any real conviction because it's not a real possibility. I wouldn't do it though. I wouldn't want to be responsible for hurting someone. And I think if your body never matured past puberty but your brain did and you're still saying you want to have sex...I might begin to doubt whether you're truly mentally capable of making these choices.

I can answer this question quite easily. My uncle used to live with us. I think I remember telling you his autism was rather hard to deal with. Anyway, he is a very tiny man. About 4'5" maybe 4'6" in dress shoes. And he's fat at 95lbs. Usually he doesn't weigh over 80. Now despite his oddities with autism and lack of height, Shawn has pulled in quite a few girlfriends over the years. We personally did think he had the mental awareness and maturity to consent. Now I'm not sure he ever actually had sex, but knowing the kinds of physical limitations people can face. There are ways to have sex without injury to your partner. Go watch some docs on sex and disability. It's really quite interesting.