(You guys are terrible. Many people with intellectual disabilities can form happy relationships with so-called “normal” people without there being something wrong with the “normal” one. ID is a way to be. There are many ways to be. Each way is different, and in different ways. ID is a designation given to some people, including many on the cusp of “normal” And “normal” is a designation given to people who don’t look or act too weird)
Mental age is some outdated and ableist BS. The ability to consent should be the default, including with people with intellectual disabilities. Sure, this can make them vulnerable to abuse, but confining a human to a (legally) sexless life is also a disgusting breach of their dignity.
It is possible that this was abuse, I do not know the woman and I cannot evaluate her. I know that an IQ of 52 falls in the range of people who may be able to live independently and form normal social and romantic relationships (not a “toddler”, dutchess.) Intelligence is a deeply nuanced and evolving concept, and anytime anyone evaluates someone else as being too unintelligent to have the same rights as everyone else, you should really pause.
Ableism is everywhere, and this piece reeks of it. The woman has caregivers. The courts didn’t say these people were charged with making sexual decisions on her behalf. By law, the rights not given to a conservator are retained by the individual. A judge in fact positively stated that she should be allowed to pursue her sexual interests, given a review of the situation and various professional assessments, and yet somehow the nature of the sex she wants to have makes everyone lose their minds. Her sexual choices are so deviant (yet legal, and not at all uncommon) that our ableist society can’t deal. Her sexual preference is framed as a illness caused by trauma, and is therefore not a valid sexual expression.
We must evaluate every person on a case by case basis, and we should be VERY careful in the rights we legally deny a person “for their own good.”