About "Loving Jesus" and state laws

There are places in the world--and the United States is one of them--where actively promoting masturbation among minors would be considered abuse. At a minimum, it is viewed by Child Protective Service (CPS) workers as "grooming behavior" designed to normalize adult/child sexual exchanges. Although "grooming" a child may not result in a conviction and prison sentence for sexual abuse, I can guarantee you that in many states there is a high likelihood that CPS workers will remove children from homes where adults persistently engage in this type of activity.

I'm not talking about a situation where an adult informs a minor that masturbation is normal and healthy or that the appropriate place for this activity is in private. I'm talking about adults encouraging children and adolescents to actively engage in mastrubation by instructing or showing them explicitly how to go about doing it. As in "Loving Jesus."

In the some countries--Sweden, for example--clinical practitioners will sometimes instruct young people with serious emotional disorders in masturbatory methods as part of their treatment plan. In the United States, this is strictly forbidden as a form of treatment and would be viewed as grooming a child to engage in inappropriate sexual contact with an adult. During the early 1990s, the Surgeon General for the Clinton Administration--Dr. Jocelyn Elders--was forced to resign from her position as the nation's chief medical officer because she recommended that sex education programs should encourage adolescent masturbation as a means of "safe sex."

A related issue is "age of sexual majority," which refers to the age at which minors can legally consent to sexual activity. In the US, it varies from state to state, but in Ohio (where I live) a 16-year-old can legally consent to sexual intercourse with someone who is no more than 5 years older (i.e., 21 or younger).

If TF is telling members that LJ can only be shared with people 16-years-old and above, it sounds like they're following some reasonably informed legal guidelines. However, Family homes in Ohio where older adults (anyone above the age of 21) are teaching LJ to 16-year-olds are at risk for a CPS investigation of grooming behavior.