When I was 17 I got my first bf. He was 27. The relationship was so awful. Like... SA and he tried to make me feel bad for not loving him enough to sacrifice such a "little" thing for him. He even had this ongoing joke with his coworkers about how we'd probably marry some day. He was so gross in so many ways and so f***ing immature! Also, that relationship has ruined so much for me in so many ways. I ended up moving away from Copenhagen partly because I was scared to meet him on the street.... I wasn't sure if I'd end up in a grave or in a prison cell if I did. It was 18 months down the drain for me. He was such an a-hole and he was just a very very bad choice for me. Probably my worst, actually. So if anyone is in doubt: no teenager should be with a person 10 years older than them. In my opinion and personal experience.

"trying to ruin my brothers chance at love" - because a 16-year-old was his only chance??

As someone who was in this position at 16, THANK YOU to OP for stepping in. You may feel grown up at 16, but a person in their 20s knows you are still a child. Your brain is not fully formed and often makes bad decisions. Anyone in their 20s trying to date a high school kid has something wrong with them.

OP is definitely not in the wrong! A 16 year old and a 25 year old have pretty much nothing in common anyways so it's hard to imagine how her brother could even be attracted to her besides the obvious. Her family and even some of her friends have shown her their true colors by berating her for telling the neighbors (if they thought it was fine why would they be worried that her parents know? They know it's wrong). I hope the girl does well in therapy.

The fact that this isn't the first assault makes me question whether OP was his victim as well. Perhaps parents don't wish to address "dirty little secrets "?

It is possible that a couple can have a serious relationship with an age gap of 5 years. But there's a huge difference between a guy falling in love with one, certain younger girl and one praying on younger girls. And there's a difference between a guy falling in love and a guy grooming. But here comes the caveat, it is almost impossible for a young girl to find out the difference. From their point of view, with their limited experience, both usually looks the same. They just don't have the neccessary knowledge to see the difference. That's why it's so often illegal. Fact is, true love can wait. And the most important thing is always to do no harm. Protection of children is more important than enabling the rare exception of two people being honestly in love. And I'm saying that after 26 years of happy relationship with my five years older husband whom I met at 16 and started dating at 17. But I wouldn't have known at 17 if he was a predator. I was lucky.

NTA!! She absolutely did the right thing!! A 25 yr old shouldn't even be around high school aged GIRLS!! He's the one that should be in therapy, if not jail!!

The age of consent definitely needs to be higher, I think it should be 21, young girls make so many bad decisions with older guys thinking it's normal but it's NOT. It's creepy and wrong, I think a ton of women can look back and have experienced an older guy wanting them or dating them when they were too young to understand that it's sick. Me being one of them and to this day it disgusts me and I just didn't realise at the time how sick it is. I'm talking a 31 year old lying about his age to me when I was 15. He looked young. He was not he told me he was 24. Even 24 with a 15 yr old is sick.

“This is NOT the first time he's been caught assaulting someone in his life” WTH?! She was DEFINITELY right for telling on him. Their relationship was inappropriate and I would also be afraid/worried for the girl especially knowing he’s done this type of s**t before.

She wasn't only right to report her brother, she was also OBLIGATED to. Failure to report a crime can be anywhere from a misdemeanor to a felony, depending on the severity of the crime. And the last time I checked, Statutory Rape is pretty severe.

7% in the poll say context matters. 7% of the people who took the poll are child molesters I guess.

I have 5 grandbabies that are my life. My 3 girls are 10, 12 and 13 and if some mudderflucking grown asss man even looked at them funny I would be in jail with a smile on my face and blood on my hands. Her parents are beyond disgusting and her brother is a sick freak, I hope he rots in jail.

Using the classic "not creepy age range formula," a 25-year-old can date someone between 36 and 19.5 without seeming creepy. Formula: take your age, divide it by 2, and add 7 for the lowest non-creepy age to date. For the upper range: take your age, subtract 7, and multiple by 2. That is the higher range. I have no reference for this what so ever.

A lot depends on what the age of consent is where they are. In the UK, it's 16, so this relationship is none of anyone's business but the couple involved. My cousin took up with a man twice her age when she was 16...she's coming up to 60, and they're still together, so it's not always a bad thing.

Dating miners is always a bad idea. All that coal dust.

Its legal here but its still gross and weird

Dating miners is always a bad idea. They are always covered in coal dust for a start.

No touched on this comment from. OP who said it’s “not the first time my brothers assaulted someone”. That’s really interesting! Sounds like the brother needs counseling.

Leavu it alone???

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Good for the dude and the happy 16yr old. I hope it works out. I stay out of gay peoples romantic lives. I stay out of your romantic life. Seems like the world of nutbags has to poke around behind closed doors for things that dont affect them. Hopefully her brother finds a way to sabotage a relationship she has