That's another way of saying the parents condoned the activity, which also included the consumption of large amounts of alcohol and other substances.

And last month, the federal government released a study showing that at least a quarter of all U.S. teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease. That alarming statistic reflects a worldwide trend, which led the York Press, in Britain, to editorialize that, "All of this reinforces the idea that teenagers should be taught at school, and by their sometimes red-faced parents, about the importance of safe sex."

So, I'm confused. Is the FLDS Church being universally condemned because it wasn't practicing safe sex?

Allowing for the obvious differences between consensual acts among kids with immature judgment skills and forced relations with much older men, both have negative consequences. Last year, the American Psychological Association released a report on the "sexualization of girls" that brought the softer "mainstream" abuse into focus.

The report found that cultural pressures even make it harder for young women to perform mathematical equations or think logically. They also give rise to increases in sexism, sexual harassment and the demand for child pornography, and decreases in the number of girls seeking careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

By all means, end the abuses at a compound in Texas. Just don't act as if the mainstream culture treats young girls a whole lot better.

---

Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com