@amaranta@freak.university i dont actually think abuse would increase that much if the amount of relationships did? i think a lot of people that would avoid it because of the stigma would generally not want to hurt kids, avoiding anything to do with kids wouldnt just be out of fear of repercussion but bcos of an internalisation of the belief its harmful too. i'm not a utilitarian but there seems to be a major flaw in this view of how it follows utilitarian principles. you don't seem to be taking into account what positive impacts a healthy relationship can have on someone, and more instances of abuse doesnt necessarily mean things are worse if people can more easily escape abuse. after all, a smaller amount of harm to more people can be better than a large amount to fewer. generally i think people who would abuse children benefit from these things being taboo, the kids know because of this taboo going for help could result in a harsh retaliation from a paranoid abuser. and it doesnt just affect people who want to have sex or relationships with kids, people wanting to be friends with kids and offer protection and support from abusive family members (the majority of where abuse comes from, further making me suspect whether increasing relations with kids would do much to further abuse. i mean its not pedophiles doing the abusing! its drunk fathers with miserable lives looking for someone helpless to take out their frustrations on) will find that their actions will be frequently interpreted as pedophilic even if no sexual or romantic desire exists, and normalisation of this desire would go a long way to mean children can form platonic relationships with adults and not be isolated with relatives and school authorities and others in positions of power over them that typically do the sexually abusing of children.

also, i think studies are pretty useful if you learn how to read them. the methodologies are usually very explicitly laid out, you can understand very well what things were controlled for and taken into account to find useful statistics and what they expect the limitations to be and use this information to come to your own conclusions about any limitations you think they missed