[bamthedoc]

Don't make me get the history book on you! Okay! I warned you!

Only in recent history has the marriage age "changed" from an average age of 12 - 14 to an average age of 20+ That being said; less than one hundred years ago, people were still having families at 14. Less than one hundred fifty years ago, women were dieing at about the average age of 35 from child-birthing so much.

It has only been in the last fifty years, in fact, that statutory (17 and younger) and child (12 and younger) rape have been added to the law books. The reason being that, before a certain point, a 35 year old man marrying a 14 year old girl was common practice and acceptable. I know it seems odd to us, today, but it was a practice carried out for centuries, and, likely, millenia -- if I recall my history correctly.

We marry later, nowadays, and teen sex should have become a whole lot more unacceptable than it has. It seems human nature just hasn't caught up to the times yet. Either that...or it is a sign of future things to come. I like to think possitively and say that human nature just hasn't caught up to the times, yet.

Whatever the case may be, that is my answer. Teens have relations because it is human nature, because only recently have things changed, and because they -- as the rest of us -- are only human. Why should teens be looked at any differently than babies, children, young adults, adults, or geriatrics? You may be thinking too much into this.