Minor children cannot consent because as minor children, they then become vulnerable, and they mainly do not comprehend what the consequences can be. This is where I usually come into it with my own experiences at being raped. I am really trying not to do that. It’s anecdotal.  You cannot even look at their eyes expecting indifference. What you will find is an indifference mixed with rage which is not indifferent. Rape and suicide are copasetic internalizations complete with inner dialogues not entirely unlike the inner ear of schizophrenia. What one hears is not imaginary. It’s disabling. Rape is disabling. You can recover. But putting it behind you is another bag of bones. When consent is a surrendering, there will be the kind of pushback – from yourself in the role of a retrovirus – whose edges of survival are razor thin.