If you haven’t heard of Joss Stone, you will. She’s bumped Sarrica Jessica Parker as the new GAP girl. But her fame comes from her amazing singing voice. You hear her singing something like “You’re a dirty, dirty man…” and you’d swear you’re listening to a middle aged black woman on a Motown record. Then you look up and the voice is coming out of this white teenage British girl. Eerie.
Anyway, she’s being coached by Motown legend Lamont Dozier (writer of such hits as “Heat Wave”, “Baby Love”, “Nowhere to Run”, and “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”). Recently, she has fired her mother as her manager and moved to Colleeforeeya to move in with her new love, Lamont’s son Beau, age 25. Problem is, age of sexual consent in Colleeforeeya is 18, and Joss is still only 17. (Well, not a problem in my eyes, but a problem legally. I figure that if you can sign up for the military with your parent’s consent at age 17, then you can have sex with your parent’s consent at age 17.)
Lamont had the most interesting defense of his son against the potential charge of statutory rape: “She’s a British citizen and the legal age there is 16.” (Technically speaking, Lamont, she’s a British “subject”.) Hmm, there’s an idea! Age of consent not defined by the place you’re in, but the place you’re from! Time to go cruising for Dutch, Guyanese, or Chliean immigrants. Gosh, there’s plenty of places around the world where the age of consent ranges from 12 to 16.
