Gotta say that I am with Norbert and a few others on this one. I believe that children of any age can give consent to physical intimacy and pleasure.

I think the whole idea of "informed consent" is nothing more than a red herring   /cgi/deref.cgi?url=http://www.fallacyfiles.org/redherrf.html  . I think most adults entering sexual relationships with other adults are not able to give informed consent, so why should the inability to give informed consent prevent children from entering a relationship with an adult?

Parents and guardians regularly give informed consent on behalf of their children for all sorts of activities, and doing so for physical intimacy should not be treated any different.

zlurker