Similar Case - Pitcairn Island

I don't know what made me think of this, but today I got to thinking about the comparison between the FLDS and Pitcairn Island trial. This island was settled by the descendants of the Bounty. Religion also played a very strong role in the island's culture and ultimately led to their undoing. Part of their argument was that sexual behavior at a very young age was part of their traditions. Also, these charges virtually eliminated all the men in their community just about destroying their ability to live on the island.

Are there any other groups or trials that anyone can think of of with similar ideas?

For those that don't remember this trial, here's a little bit of information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_sexual_assault_trial_of_2004

........ the devout Seventh-day Adventism practiced by the islanders had for many decades masked a tolerance for sexual promiscuity, even among the very young, with a corresponding tacit acceptance of child sexual abuse. Three cases of imprisonment for sex with underage girls were reported in the 1950s[3].

......
Pitcairn's 47 inhabitants, almost all of whom are interrelated, were bitterly divided by the charging of most of the adult male population.
.......
Olive Christian said of her girlhood, "We all thought sex was like food on the table." Christian’s two daughters also said that they had both been sexually active from the age of 12, with one of them claiming that she had been "hot for it". They and other women present at the meeting, who endorsed their view that underage sex was normal on Pitcairn, stated emphatically that all of the alleged rape victims had been willing participants.

from the link above:

In the video, Brown told the police that it was "a normal part of Pitcairn life" [1] for adult men to have sex with girls of 12 or 13. "It didn't seem wrong," he said. Most islanders, including his parents, had started having sex at a young age, and each generation had followed on from the one before it. He said, however, that he had rethought the widespread acceptance of underage sex, and had concluded that it was not appropriate. Of his own affair with the 13-year-old girl, he said, "I regret it now. Times are changing. Things are moving forward, and obviously what we did then was not normal."

Brown pleaded not guilty, however, to a further twelve charges, which include forcing a five-year-old girl to give him oral sex, and of indecently assaulting a girl of six or seven in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the only church on the island.

I have spent a little time looking at several blogs run by admitted pedophiles (or similar classifications.) And one thing they all say is that children no matter what age should have the right to consent to sex. The argue vehemently that children, even infants can and do request sex. And that children should be permitted to do so. Arguments that children cannot make informed consent, cannot determine what is good or not good for them, doesn't phase them.

To me, this is the same. It is adults with a vested interest making the decision to do what they want. Yes, in this situation the children may have wanted to have sex. But a lot of that is the result of a pervasive sexual atmosphere, where they see it happening all around them, and many just want to be seen as grownup- and they don't know of any other way to show they are "grown-up."

And yes, it happens in the FLDS. Children told that as soon as possible they will be "sealed" and will be grown up. They will have their own babies. And these kids do not realize that in "growing up" they are just exchanging one set of problems for another.

And before anyone challenges me on this, yes it also happens in the mainstream society. That is why there are laws against a child having sex with adults, laws that encourage kids to actually grow up and become old enough to make decisions before they start having sex.