Most 17 year olds would cringe at being called a child, surely. It is quite demeaning and infantalising, to a young woman who works full time and has a boyfriend, to be called a child. It is very mixed messages isnt it.
Not at all, she literally is legally a child.
I might have cringed at being called a child at 17. It would have been a bit immature of me to do so, but that would make sense. On account of being a child.
What's the mixed message? She has a job and boyfriend so isn't 'really' a child?
Having a boyfriend, does offer at least some understanding, at least, of how mens minds works, im not saying an expert in these matters but potentially not the innocent child vibe.
This is really disturbing language. 'Not the innocent child vibe'? Christ. So if a child has a boyfriend then it's more acceptable to make sexual comments about them?
By age 17 I had my own home, a child of my own, and a full time job. I did not feel at all childlike
That's statistically a pretty rare situation to be in at 17 though here in the UK. You must have had to have grown up fast but you were still a child. A more mature one I'm sure, but a child nonetheless.
We need to show young people we believe in them, not refer to them as children until their 18th birthday and suddenly wow they are an adult which to me, is case by case basis. There are some people much older who still act like kids.
I believe in young people and want them to be safe. They are children until they are adults. Babies, toddlers, tweens, teens. It's not infantilising to refer to a 17 year old as a child. It's accurate.
Predators like OP's partner (that's what he is, commenting on a 17 year old girl being 'railed' by loads of men) thrive on the idea that some girls under 18 are fair game to be pursued if they look a certain way, dress a certain way or don't immediately reject an older man.
She is a child. He made sexual comments about her. The fact she has a boyfriend doesn't make that any less awful.