8 October 1989 Los Angeles Times Weekly Listings (Television) Viewers' Views re: "New TV Doctors are in Critical Condition" by Howard Rosenberg, L.A. Times, September 19, 1989 Under current state and federal laws, if I, as a 43-year-old professional man, sexually propositioned a 16-year-old, I could be arrested and imprisoned. But wait - the adult nurse on the debut of "Doogie Howser, M.D." invites 16-year-old Doogie to father her child, and it's "cute comedy." Is this a double standard? I for one would vote for Doogie making the decision without further legal consequences whether he says "yes" or "no," but in the meantime I resent the exploitation of this double standard and the pretense that society just dismisses such behavior when the participants are a precocious boy and a young woman with an "acceptable" agenda. |