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Ok, I was reading another thread and it made me wonder what people think the age of consent should be... That is to say for a person to have intercourse / sex.
Different states have different laws. In some states an 18 y.o. may be guilty of statutory rape for having engaged a 17 y.o. in sexual intercourse. That teen will also be labeled a sexual predator and carry that label for life. On the Dr. Oz show a group of teen girls mentioned they were very concerned that a 14 y.o. boy was exploiting a 10 y.o. girl for sex. Is it reasonable to convict a teen for nothing more than an age difference of one year while allowing younger teens to engage in all sorts of sexual activity without consequence? On the same Dr. Oz show the fact surfaced that 75% of all girls age 14 or younger have had sex of sort or another. The original goal of our sex laws for children were to protect them, but how do you protect a group of which 75% engage in the very thing you are trying to protect them from?
Obviously, the age of consent should be at least puberty, which is highly variable from one individual to another. But anyone who has reached puberty should be able to give consent, and the law should apply according to physical development, not some calendar age.
I have seen figures that disagree with Dr. Oz. I believe the population breaks down into three roughly equal groups. One third of girls have had sex by the age of 14, one third have not had sex yet by the age of high school graduation, and one third have their first sexual experience somewhere in between. Some difficulty lies in defining what kind of sexual experience constitutes "first time". In any case, however, it is clear that a majority of girls have, while under the age of consent, an experience that could constitute statutory rape, which makes a mockery of one of the last of our silly "blue laws".
The USA is very nearly the only country in the world in which the age of consent is as high as 18 anywhere. Which I suppose reflects the retarded age at which Americans grow up. This is also the only country in the world where the drinking age for retarded children is 21---a fact which makes "the Land of the Free" the laughing stock of the rest of the world.
Jtu88 I’m just having some fun with you, but I do think many people (including myself) will disagree with you that an 11 year old is mentally and psychologically mature enough to understand the dynamics of sex, even if she / he has entered puberty.
Also remember puberty is an ongoing process that isn’t completed in just a few short months. It can take a couple of years.
So that 12 year old that has entered puberty might not finish the entire puberty cycle until 15-16
Well, you see, there are only two choices. You can go by her physical development, or you can set a calendar date on which she is presumed to suddenly acquire all the maturity she needs to make that decision, and that date differs according to what state or country she lives in. Common sense leads me to disagree with the latter.
There are plenty of civilized western countries where the AOC is as low as 14 (even 13 in Spain), and somehow people there figure out how to deal with adolescence without the sky falling. Why are Americans so challenged by such everyday human relationships? Why are YOU so terrified of people growing up with some modicum of free will? What defect in your own psychology causes you to need to have so much control over the sex lives of other people?
Well, you see, there are only two choices. You can go by her physical development, or you can set a calendar date on which she is presumed to suddenly acquire all the maturity she needs to make that decision, and that date differs according to what state or country she lives in. Common sense leads me to disagree with the latter.
Well society has decided that by setting the AOC at around 16 that most youth will have reached a point by that age that they have reached and completed puberty. This helps ensure these youth are able to understand some concept of responsibility, although many are still far from responsible at that age, were you or I?
I agree with you that there is not magic age for any one person to reach their level of maturity or complete puberty but by having an AOC helps at least prevent some issues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
There are plenty of civilized western countries where the AOC is as low as 14 (even 13 in Spain), and somehow people there figure out how to deal with adolescence without the sky falling. Why are Americans so challenged by such everyday human relationships? Why are YOU so terrified of people growing up with some modicum of free will? What defect in your own psychology causes you to need to have so much control over the sex lives of other people?
Yes I know what you mean regarding Spain and other countries having different social norms but first we are not in Spain, and second regardless of where you live parents (for the most part) are the same everywhere and want to protect their children and only what what’s best for them. This is just a natural instinctive trait and no parent wants to see their children being a parent at a young age or taking the chance that through sex either pregnancy or disease will occur. They also don’t want to see their child taken advantage of or abused by an older or more forceful person.
However with all these laws and restrictions they don’t always work as intended. Such as the Mary Kay Letourneau case that rocked a nation with its horrific tale of a female teacher and her 12 year old student, and what’s even more troubling is today they are living it up and riding their fame rubbing it in the authorities and society’s face.
or the 14 –year old girl who took self nude pictures of herself and posted them on her MySpace account and was charged with child pornography. That is a messed up situation to charge a child with a felony crime and make her register as a sex offender when the same laws say a child isn’t old enough to know better or give consent, a huge double standard and catch 22
or better yet with all strict laws and mandatory minimums, registration, living restrictions, and the scarlet letter that comes with any sexual offenses the statistics show an ever increasing amount of child exploitation and there’s not enough cops or money to solve the problem.
here is a year old article that describes it well but still seems to be a huge issue as many counties and police agencies are still facing huge budget deficits.
what’s even worse is many places there are DNA and rape kits that are so back logged that they are not even able to process these and get them under way, which is definitely a sad indication where the governments priorities are.
We can spend billions of dollars on a war half way across the word in the justification of making the homeland safer but yet we allow rapist to wonder around free because we don’t have to money to properly process rape kits and prosecute rapist.
The real reason is all the politicians have their hand in defense contracts and make huge sums of money off the stupid tax payers who support wars based on lies so these fat cats get richer while nobody is safer from a rapist that might strike at any time since he’s already in your neighborhood.
Age of consent laws are useful to young people in keeping them safe. Remember, not so long ago the young were forced to work in factories in unsafe conditions to help support the family instead of getting a useful education. Children routinely died working in factories, were paid very little, did not get regular breaks, etc. Sometimes laws and regulations actually do help people. They can help protect the weaker in society from the powerful (yes, rarely, but still better than nothing).
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