*I guess - it's one of the things that I find most difficult, that men appear to zone in and zone out on what they do to females, e.g. be a loving father to a daughter and then sexually abuse other females, or whatever the situation is.
I dunno, I don't understand it.*
I'v been thinking about that, too, this afternoon, Heart. Clifford, despite the fact that what he was accused of doing is exactly what he was actually doing, does not think he has done anything wrong. I think that's because men make women the gatekeepers of sex. Because he didn't hit/punch/hold the women down to make them have sex with him but, instead, manipulated them, this is "their fault" for letting their guard down and allowing him to have sex. In his eyes, the fact that they were underage, or otherwise in vulnerable positions compared to him, is not evidence of his horribleness or criminal activity, but evidence of their failure to guard themslves against men who "can't help themselves." Men who think like this place their daughters in a seperate category because they think their daughters are "better" - ie they will be more aware of men's needs and trickery and guard the gate against sex with more success and thus "protect themslves."
There is also the fact that, despite the age of consensual sex being 16, many people in our society seem to think that the age of sexual consent is really on some sort of sliding scale with 9 being terrible, 13 a bit awful but understandable if she was wearing high heels and 15 being OK really.
I wonder if, with this conviction, the tide is beginning to turn and men's manipulation of women, particularly vulnerable women, into "consenting" to sex is finally being challenged.