| The question of whether children are capable of consenting to sex with adults is something that's been widely debated in the time and space RMS grew up in. Several important people on the leftist/queer side came out in favor of it: https://uncommongroundmedia.com/derrick-jensen-queer-theory-... RMS may simply not have gotten the memo that this is a completely unacceptable opinion in the 2000s. Sensibilities change. > Defends someone charged with ‘"sexual assault" on a "child" This is just not true, it's the same misrepresentation that RMS attempted to defend Marvin Minsky against. Marvin Minsky was never charged with anything, on account of being dead and unable to defend himself. Marvin Minsky also has never been accused of sexual assault by the victim herself. The victim accused Ghislaine Maxwell of directing her to have sex with Marvin Minsky. There's a huge difference between "Marvin Minsky sexually assaulted a child" and "Marvin Minsky had sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old that was forced into prostitution by a third party". Not just in terms of labels, we're talking about years of prison time. Even if we supposed that the latter was legally considered "sexual assault" (which it is not), it should be acceptable to argue that the name doesn't fit the crime. |