I think the issue of menarche is a red herring. One can be sexually active before one is fertile. The real issue is what the law believed was the age of consent in Illinois in the 1840s, which was for females 10 and males 14.
(my bold) Which only goes to show that historically, young girls were not given much of a voice under the law...
From my (very little) research in this area. The laws of England were changed (in the late 19th C) because of problems with child prostitution.
The consent laws (as far as I know, and someone correct me if I am wrong) grew out of the practices of the aristocracy in marrying their children off at a very young age to secure inheritances. When the law was abused (as in the case of child prostitution) steps were taken to alleviate the problem through legal process.
Again, from the studying I have done, 14 year olds marrying (even in a traditional marriage) were an extremely rare event in almost every European society, and the Parish and Civil records bear that out. Older men marrying very much younger children (rather than two minors) was even more rare.
There is every indication that Joseph was going against (and of course he was with polygamy) strict social convention on acceptable behaviour.
I don't think that one could argue that it was more acceptable then to marry a 14 year old, than it is today. It absolutely was not acceptable. (even if we take out the fact that it would have been a bigamous marriage under the law)
There was a darn good reason that it was all kept hush hush to a great extent.
I'm also not totally sure that the issue of menarche is a red herring???
If Helen was incapable of having children as a pre-pubescent, (and at least the averages suggest that she may not have achieved menarch until around 16) and if she was regarded by her parents and herself as a child, then at the very least we can say that Joseph had a 'sexual interent' (even if he was willing to wait) in a child?????
I guess what worries me more (appreciating that free agency is the mark of an LDS God's path) is the manipulation that was involved, with regard to both Helen and the Mother (who was more than aware of what was going on). What also worries me is the way the women who turned down Joseph's advances were treated in terms of blackening their characters. I can't see God-like behaviour in all this, and it certainly doesn't tie in with the churches site on the character of Joseph Smith
http://www.josephsmith.net/portal/site/ ... D&locale=0
Mary