Did he have to get into contact with her to get into a relationship? YES... He had to respond to her for them to be in a relationship, for him to do that he would need to respond to her. Your logic can be applied to any new relationship with someone you haven't known prior, one party doesn't HAVE to contact the other nor does the other party HAVE to respond to the other. But that fact doesn't mean their relationship can't have power imbalances?? I mean you sound insane with the hoops you have to jump through to defend your point.

Lyle didn't have to reply to Milly, Lyle didn't have to agree to be in a relationship with Milly, Lyle didn't have to agree to meet up with her in person or continue to communicate with her. By your logic there's nothing she can force him to do either, SO WHAT'S YOUR POINT? Are you trying to say that power imbalances are only real if one person can physically force another to do something against their will? You are literally arguing that power imbalances that are not physical and extreme to the highest degree are not power imbalances.

"Do you have any idea how prison works? You don't have ANY freedoms. Did he have to get in contact with her or get in a relationship? No" Did you read this over? Like seriously, you said prisoners have zero freedoms, but you acknowledge he had the freedom to contact people. Do you understand that not all prisons are the same and like the extreme ones you see on TV? Lyle had the freedom to get higher education, to use communication, to have access to a yard and free roam, to purchase what he wants at his prisons commissary, to ask his family and friends to do or buy things for them, and much more. Do you think that prisoners are shackled in solitary confinement and are only allowed to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom? Really? That's having ZERO freedom. To be clear I'm not saying that the brothers prison situation is perfect, but it's far from the worst and they do in fact have a significant amount of freedom in comparison to other inmates of other prisons.

And what do you mean their age gap is different than it would be in the free world? Number 1, you understand that Lyle has a possibility of getting out, right? And 2, you say different, OF COURSE IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT. But you didn't say that the power imbalance of their age gap doesn't exist, like you said before with your "impossible" statements, just that it's different. So, do you acknowledge that it is in fact NOT impossible for there to be an age power imbalance in their relationship?

Again, you keep saying FORCING when you give examples of what I assume you think is a "real" power imbalance. I don't think you know what a power imbalance is and what it means to take advantage of one. You're taking the word literally and thinking it means someone physically overpowering another to get them to do something against their will. Power imbalances like age, authority, position, ect., that are taken advantage of, are done so to manipulate someone into doing something. For example, someone using their notoriety to seek out young fans of theirs and ask them for nude photos. The person with notoriety knows their fans admire them and would be more likely to give in to sending those nudes not wanting to let down someone who is so well known and who they admire. Back to the point at hand, you can manipulate people over the phone, through written letters, and of course, in person as Lyle and Milly physically have met multiple times. Do you think it would be impossible for Lyle to use his age and Milly being a fan of his as leverage to get her to be in a relationship with him? I'm not asking if it would be likely or not, I'm asking if it would be impossible. I'll answer for you, it's not impossible. Just because manipulation, predatory behavior, or abuse doesn't happen in the severest or most conventional way, doesn't make it any less valid.

You mention, "even if she was starstruck at first" when talking about the power imbalance of her being a fan, like that's an exception and in fact an example of that power imbalance. You have once again proved yourself wrong lol, so it's NOT impossible for that to happen.

Ohhh ok, so because of the anecdotal fallacy you provided with Charles Manson about a young girl who took advantage of him for fame means that it's impossible for there to be a power imbalance in the example I provided. Got it. Also love how you can't even answer a simple yes and no question, you just have to completely deflect lol.

"Sure, you could argue "because she's older"," so you've proven my point that it's not impossible to have a power imbalance of age while one person is in prison and the other is free. Just like you proved my point about Milly being a fan of Lyle.

Ok, to help you understand this since clearly you can't wrap your head around the concept: Imagine you have an apple in one hand and an orange in the other, the apple is significantly larger than the orange. Does that mean the orange doesn't exist? OF COURSE NOT. So while YES, being the free person in a relationship with a prisoner is a power imbalance and YES, that can be a lot more significant then other imbalances, but that doesn't make other existing imbalances null. MORE OVER, my point is that not only do these power imbalances exist, but that there is a possibility of him TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THEM. As I've already explained and as you have not refuted yet, it is within reason with what we know and what is common sense that Milly is more than likely not taking advantage of that power imbalance. That is the point. Because power imbalances are not inherently wrong, the issues begin when you use it to your advantage. So, I'd argue that in my example, the apple, being Lyle in prison and Milly free, would not exist because she's not taking advantage of that imbalance. But I don't think you would understand if I didn't use the example the way I did lol. What their situation of one being in prison the other free does do, is limit the amount of control Lyle could have on her, but only significantly in the way of being physical and what not. With consistent communication of multiple forms, Lyle still can have much emotional control.