DEAR ABBY: The following story is fictitious: A man in his late 20s goes to bed with a 14-year-old girl. He gets caught, is arrested, and goes to prison for a few years where he is subject to all kinds of dangers in prison because of his crime.
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The following story is real: A married woman in her late 20s goes to bed with a 14-year-old boy. They are having an affair. The boy and this woman do their frolicking when her husband is at work during his graveyard shift. This boy is some kind of "hero" to his friends, and even to some adults! Why?
This is a double standard in its ugliest fashion. If an underage girl has sex with an adult male, then it is a case of, "Poor girl, he must have taken advantage of her."
When an underage boy has sex with an adult woman, it turns into, "What a stud, atta boy -- learn early!"
Furthermore, I have never heard of a case where a woman went to prison for having sex with underage boys. Isn't it a crime? I am not saying that one is right and the other is not. They're both wrong. Why, however, do women get away with this awful crime? -- FRESNO FRANK
DEAR FRESNO FRANK: Women "get away" with it if the parents of the underage boy are unwilling to charge the woman with having sex with a minor. But regardless of who takes advantage of a minor of either sex -- that person is guilty of statutory rape.