APRIL 22nd - Who's Seducing Who



On this day in 1886, seduction became illegal in Ohio. The law pertained to men over the age of 18 who worked as teachers of women, and made sex, even consensual, off-limits. Punishment was 2 to 10 in prison. Other states also made seducing illegal, but these laws were more concerned with preserving the chastity of virginal women. Basically it was illegal for a man to promise marriage in order to go where no man had gone before him. Sometimes the promise ended up being kept because when threatened with jail time, even the most notorious of bachelors would consider settling down. I believe it was around the time these laws came out that Lotharios subtly changed their approach, and the first man uttered, “I love you,” in order to speed up the tempo to the horizontal mambo. Then he ignored her letters and acted as if he barely knew her when they happened to run into each other at the farmer’s market. Because men are pigs. But these days, I think women also need be reminded about seduction and appropriateness. Especially attractive female teachers of adolescent boys. How many cases of young women teachers sleeping with their students are we up to now? Seems like at least one a year. But what if the young male students are telling their teachers they want to marry them? Would have been a quagmire in 1886 Ohio. But being that it’s not 1886 anymore (or an Adam Sandler movie), I think if everyone, men and women, could keep everything age appropriate and consensual, things would run a lot smoother.

This day has been Marked.

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