SusanM:

BAD BAD Poster! I understand you have feelings but you've got to understand that accusing somebody of pedophilia, even in the context of 'oh, its just a feeling' is pretty much painting a target on their back.

You don't mean that and yes I do have a lot of sensitivity. No one with common sense is going to read my comment and think that William Saletan is a pedophile because I never said he was. My title actually says “I am wrong to wonder whether the writer is a pedophile.” It is completely different from “I think the writer is a pedophile.”

When you go to a convenient store and you see a guy (no matter the ethnicity) wandering around, and he has tattoos everywhere, and he looks like he just came out of prison. He is not buying anything just looking around, doesn't a small, tiny, voice goes off in your head and starts wondering whether you should leave the store. This individual could very well be waiting for his girlfriend or an employee or his dinner to be prepared. You don’t know him. But the voice goes off anyway.

I am sure that Mr. William Saletan is a fine human being. My post did not make anyone think he was a pedophile. If you thought that he was branded by my comment, than look inside yourself.

The one comment that he made that made think that he was “rationalizing” was this one “Conversely, having sex with a 12-year-old, when you're 20, is scummy. But it doesn't necessarily make you the kind of predator who has to be locked up.

I kept telling myself why he is saying that the 20 year old should not be locked up. I was 20 once and I was very competent. The mental gap between 20 and 63 is negligible, if nonexistent. Their experiences are vastly different but their understandings of ethics are equal.

A 20 year old knows that killing someone is bad. A 20 year old knows that children do not have the awareness of a 17, 18 or 20 year old. A 20 year old knows that a 12 year old is a child. So if that 20 year old, with all his/her mental capacity, decides to have sex with 12 year old, why should that person not be locked up as a 30 year old would? What gets a 20 year old off the hook and not the 25, 30, 40, 50, 60 year old man/woman?

I could not find answers.

P.S Mr. Saletan is going to be fine. He is making money off this article, and his wife is not going to stop him from being with his kids alone after reading it. If this article gets enough reactions from readers, Slate is going to ask him to write more. He is very happy that we care about what he thinks. Indifference to his writing would have really irked him.