Book review: Sexual Exploitation of Teenagers: Adolescent Development, Discrimination, and Consent Law
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758018809756 |
| Author | Guangxing Zhu |
| Published date | 01 January 2019 |
| Date | 01 January 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Jennifer Ann Drobac
Sexual Exploitation of Teenagers: Adolescent Development, Discrimination, and Consent Law
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2016; 361 pp.; ISBN 978-0-226-30101-3 (hardback)
Reviewed by: Guangxing Zhu, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
DOI: 10.1177/0269758018809756
In Sexual Exploitation of Teenagers: Adolescent Development, Discrimination, and Consent Law,
Jennifer Ann Drobac examines legal issues associated with sexual harassment and exploitation of
maturing teenagers by adults in the United States. After providing readers, in chapter 1, with an
overview of key terms, such as consent, acquiescence, and assent, Drobac explores how and why
the US legal system treats adolescents’ consent to sex with adults inconsistently and then provides
possible solutions.
In chapter 2, the author reveals the high risk of sexual harassment of adolescents in their daily
lives. While acknowledging peer sexual harassment as a serious problem, the author focuses on the
sexual exploitation of adolescents by predatory adults. She explains that the ‘legal definition of
sexual harassment and exploitation’ (p.16) requires the behavior to be ‘sexual’ and ‘unwelcome’.
The author contends that this definition is too narrow by pointing out that the ‘sexual’ standard
ignores nonsexual forms of abuse (e.g. ‘gender animosity may motivate some forms of hostile, sex-
based harassment’) and the ‘unwelco me’ standard presumes adolescents have the capacity to
welcome sex with adults, which is not actually the case. Next, Drobac shows that adolescents are
‘potentially at risk (wherever they go)’ (p.42) and in some contexts, they encounter more sexual
harassment than adults do. The author also expresses concern that the sexual or sexist messages
embodied in public places, such as in commercial advertisements at the mall, television programs,
and music lyrics, might contribute to the enculturation that certain sexual harassment is acceptable
and tolerable, which is averse to protecting adolescents from sexual harassment and exploitation.
Drobac then discusses the unique characteristics of adolescents’ neurobiological, cognitive,
emotional and psychosocial development, and indicates that ‘adolescents experience significant
changes not only during their teenage years, but also into their early twenties and beyond’ (p.52).
Thus, the law should not expect adolescents to act in the same way as adults. These unique traits,
the author argues, plus the power, age and maturity disparities, render adolescents lacking in the
capacity to consent to sex with their workplace supervisors or adult teachers, which implies that
such sexual conduct between adolescents and adults should be labeled as sexual abuse.
In subsequent chapters, Drobac analyses several cases to evaluate the legal treatment of ado-
lescents and adult sexual predators in US criminal law. Given that adolescents under a specific age
limit according to the state law are usually considered lacking in the legal capacity to consent to
sexual intercourse, defendants should in principle not be able to use consent as a defense. But the
chastity defense used to play a role in history (Hernandez v. State). Moreover, the author discusses
the civil law response to adolescents’ consent and highlights cases of adolescents suffering sexual
exploitation in which the adolescent’s consent was considered relevant, thereby preventing the
adolescent from succeeding in a civil case involving damage claims. Several doctrines, including
the ‘rule of sevens’, ‘doctrine of misprision’ and ‘writ of seduction’, contribute to the differences
between criminal and civil responses. Moreover, Drobac indicates that even within the civil law
system, there exists inconsistency in the legal treatment of adolescents’ consent. The author also
analyzes California criminal and civil law regarding sexual abuse of minors in Chapter 8 to further
illustrate the inconsistent legal treatment of adolescent consent. For instance, in People v. Tobias,
Book reviews 135
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