What the...?

So, here's one of my current struggles.

See, I'm an adult now, and I've been a step parent, in a mostly nudist household, with a growing young child. Specifically: I've a male body and the child was female, and curious.

Over the years, we had several encounters with sexual aspects. And, because of my concerns about this issue and insinuations that I was doing something wrong, I finally printed out every bit of law I could get my hands on and gave them to her to read.

Well, within a few months a police officer charged me with something or another related to this issue. I was accused of child abuse, and my step daughter was eventually placed with another family by child protective services, and the charges against me were dropped.

But here's the kicker: I did not engage in sex with her. And, I was told (by her mother) that after being placed with this other family she was engaging in frequent sex, involving her and both of her foster parents.

This was when she was in her early teens (13-ish, if I recall correctly).

There's obviously much more detail to this story than what I am going into, here. But this experience has definitely given me a new perspective on the nature of law and society, on religion, on justice, and on myself.

And I keep coming back, again and again, to one phrase, to help me make sense of this:

It's a free country.

Just to be clear:

(a) It's possible that my "abuse" consisted of not satisfying her needs for intimacy, and

(b) It's practically impossible to hold a sane discussion on this topic, and

(c) I think society is going to have to come to terms with this kind of issue, at least somewhat. And, so am I.

Which leads back to this blog. I'm spending far too much time running over these issues, back and forth, in my head. And I'm hoping that if I can put some of this down in words that I'll be able to come closer to a self-consistent view of at least my own position.