Unintended consequences

Unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences), outcomes that are not the ones intended by a purposeful action, sometimes occur as a result of efforts to restrict individual freedom to engage in intergenerational sexual relationships.

Examples

One unintended consequence of describing intergenerational relationships as being always characterized by an adult seducing a reluctant minor is that young people may think that any relationship they pursue on their own initiative or with enthusiasm is harmless. Frank Bruni notes:

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In being told merely to be wary of strangers and not retreat behind closed doors with unfamiliar adults, teen-agers are given a definition of -- and message about -- sexual abuse that assumes a violation of will, a physical coercion. They are not told something equally important: that their own curiosity may lead them places it is unhealthy and destructive to go. But imparting that wisdom means acknowledging that children sometimes participate without protest -- and with apparent enthusiasm -- in their victimization, awakening to adult desires before they are adults. And many adults, Dr. Berlin noted, fear that such an acknowledgment sounds too much like an apology for certain kinds of child sexual abuse. "We like to think of ourselves as a free society, but certain things get branded heresy," he said. "We've demonized this and made it much too simplistic in the process."

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Another unintended consequence is that people may become fearful that any physical contact with minors could result in criminal charges.