Are These Teenage Extramarital Affairs Happening in 2018?

[alanajaney]

I don't think it's unrealistic to imagine it happening in today's world. Teenagers seem older than in previous generations - they are all about being an adult and having an affair with an adult would only make them feel that much older.

[qsusan]

It's something that has always been happening.
One must also remember that the socially acceptable age for marriage was lower in 1950, so the relationship (excluding the adultery aspect) would have been more acceptable then. On the flip side an extramarital affair was much more scandalous and reprehensible then.

[Mr Benji]

The stories are more reported more now than then due to the development in the media.
Although the times have changed, I' m glad the society still frowns at such behaviour.Whether it is in the 1950 or on our present time.

[Zain A Blade]

Love knows no age or boundaries. I believe Natalie's story is as old as time itself.

[BeatrixPotter]

I'm not sure that it should actually be called an affair when one partner is an underage minor or teen, and the other is an adult. That is considered an unequal power relationship, because the teen is not considered emotionally mature enough to consent. It is a form of sexual abuse.
Of course it's happening now, just as it has throughout history. With social media, pedophiles are targeting teens and even younger youth online, and sometimes we hear about one who has disappeared after being lured out to meet the predator. Sometimes youth are being lured away and end up being trafficked into the sex trade somewhere.

[k2rugman]

I feel like these kinds of things have always happened throughout time. I think we hear about it more these days because news can travel across the world in a heart beat with the help of the internet and social media.

[qsusan]

I wouldn't describe this relationship as pedophiliac in nature. In 1950, girls got married at age 20 plus or minus a few years which means Natalie was already of an age to get married. Though I agree that the consent may be dubious as Natalie could be classified as emotionally damaged with an abusive stepfather and may have simply been searching for a father figure and those emotions were twisted and transformed into erotic love.

[zilizopita1998]

I believe teenage extramarital affairs is more prominent now than then (1950's scene of the book). I recently read about a young boy who married an old billionaire woman.

All that people are after is nothing but money. Remember money is the route to all evil and so our society continues to rot since young girls elope anyhow when they see money.

[zilizopita1998]

I feel like these kinds of things have always happened throughout time. I think we hear about it more these days because news can travel across the world in a heart beat with the help of the internet and social media.

I equally side with you. Technology has just hastened the speed at which news about such incidences cut across the globe. Anyway they have existed from time immemorial.

[Irishmom]

I know this was going on at my high school in the early 1990s, and happened with someone my son vaguely knows just last year. I just think there is more media exposure now.

[Nanig83006]

It may have always been a thing, but more known now because of different sources of media. In my opinion, this is a theme for both boys and girls, we just hear about the girls more often. During my time in high school, a male teacher was caught having an affair with a girl in my year. Two years after I graduated, a female teacher was caught with a male student. I'm not sure if schools (or just my school) are hunting grounds, but it's safe to say that kids in abusive situations make easy targets for predators.

I agree with you about schools being easy hunting grounds. I had a similar situation in my high school, a girlfriend of mine was sleeping with one of our teachers. Even as her friend, I couldn't understand it. She came from a family of simple means so maybe it was partially the allure of power she saw in the teacher?

I spoke with my sister about this topic and we discussed the two examples from our school. While we personally will never truly know why teens have affairs with teachers, we did agree that these individuals were looking for something in them they weren't getting at home. Perhaps it was security or they saw them as the ideal role model of father/mother figures but on a more intimate level? Maybe the teacher was the perfect friend who understood them? Whatever the reason for the student to approach the teacher, it is definitely wrong for the adult in the situation to allow it farther than it should have gone. I don't see faculty members of education as powerful or alluring, but that doesn't mean the next person won't. Either way, it's their responsibility to educate their students and keep them out of harms way. It's horrible when they are the danger.

[Nanig83006]

I too think that it's probably always been prevalent, it just wasn't as well known in the days before CNN, the Internet, and so on. Does anyone remember Mary Kay Letourneau, who married her former student, Vili Fualaau, after giving birth to two daughters and going to jail for it? As huge as that was, we probably never would have heard of it had it happened in the 50s or even 60s or 70s.

I was a kid when I learned about this (from a lifetime movie, I think) and I was obsessed with their entire relationship. I knew (and still know) it's wrong for adults to take advantage of a minor, but their relationship felt different to me. I think the may have actually been in love. Which I know is weird, but they did get married after Letourneau got out of jail and are still currently married a decade and some years later. It makes one wonder, if she stopped communicating with Faulaau (like she was supposed to) if they would have ever stayed together? I think there were only every reports of her reaching out to him and not the other way around. Either way, your right. Today's media makes it well known about inappropriate relations like this one. They spring up way too often and, personally, I believe the kids who pursue the relationship are coming from bad situations and trying to find comfort in who they view as a "reliable" adult. Sadly, they're only being abused more.

[Nanig83006]

I'm not sure that it should actually be called an affair when one partner is an underage minor or teen, and the other is an adult. That is considered an unequal power relationship, because the teen is not considered emotionally mature enough to consent. It is a form of sexual abuse.
Of course it's happening now, just as it has throughout history. With social media, pedophiles are targeting teens and even younger youth online, and sometimes we hear about one who has disappeared after being lured out to meet the predator. Sometimes youth are being lured away and end up being trafficked into the sex trade somewhere.

You are correct and it's the scary part of it all. These kids are under the illusion that they're equal to the adult in the situation, not realizing they're being abused and taken advantage of. It's terrifying how many "willing" teens never see their families again because of traps and predators. I even hear of "groomers", teens who target other teens and become theirs "friends" in order to help predators kidnap more victims. This is something else that has probably been going on for years, but we're only more aware of it now because of social media.

[CataclysmicKnight]

I wasn't alive in the 50s, so I can't be entirely sure. However, it's also very possible that we just hear about it more often these days due to social media and online news, but that it was just as "common" back then. This feels like one of those trick questions where a first reaction would be "Oh, they're WAY more common now!", but if they were so common these days then it wouldn't make such big news when a teacher is discovered to be having a relationship with a student.

I know this isn't much of an answer LOL, but it's all I've got.

[starshipsaga]

I think we just hear about it more these days, with the power of the internet and news media. But throughout history there have always been examples of adults taking advantage of the innocence and impressionable minds of teens, especially those who are more vulnerable.