Age of Consent Throughout the World

[Hoplite]

A lot of me is confused by the double standards we seem to have.

An older woman dating a significantly younger man is treated with an almost sarcastic humor. We have funny names for people that do that but no one really looks sideways at it.

An older man dating a significantly young woman and the almost automatic response is "PERVERT!"

We look sideways at people in these kinds of relationships for sex...yet we dont really seem to care when the ages are close. Age matters when one person is young and the other is not...but age DOESN'T seem to matter when both people are 20+. We seem to be worried about older men manipulating young women into giving them sex...and yet we dont seem to be worried about this happening to young men nor do we seem to care if it happens to adults. There also doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason behind the ages selected as ages of consent. I understand the need to draw a line for legal purposes, but that line seems to be almost completely random with no real basis on selecting it. The maturity argument doesnt stand up very well because there are plenty of adults who lack the maturity to make good decisions about their sex life, why shouldn't we try to protect them too?

I'd be a little more willing to accept this as just another social construct if there was reason behind it

I just blame American society about being conservative when it comes to sex. They treat adults like children and that is not right. 16 yr olds need to be given more responsibly so that they mature faster and not act like kids when they are in late teens and early 20s. I have met many people who were 16 and 17 that were more mature then people here in their 20s and that is sad.

A lot of it is our society expects very warped things from teenagers. We expect teens to act like adults yet most teens wont be given adult responsibility or treated as adults. Treating teenagers like children tends to engender feelings of betrayal at a later age.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

We couldn't agree on a drinking age, either, until the Federal government blackmailed the States by threatening to withhold their own money from them. And there's really no significant political lobby with any interest in changing the age of consent-- whether to raise it or lower it. Most people aren't even aware that some States have different ages of consent for heterosexual and homosexual contact.



Think there's really that much difference in the three years between sixteen and nineteen? Most nineteen year olds still live at home.

These ages are all too high. These are adults we're talking about, here. The law should treat them as such.

Well - the obnoxious thing about age is that things concerning 'age limits' are really concerning 'maturity limits' - and there will always be people who are *of age* but incapable of handling the priveledges that are extended due to that age - or don't care . . . and vise versa (younger people who aren't of age but are more mature than their older counterparts).

So that makes this whole issue complicated.

None the less - In noting a difference between the average 16 year old and 19 year old I do believe that the younger is lower on teh maturity scale (generally speaking) and is less likely to make wise and solid decisions about self, safety and future - etc.

Not saying that every 19 year old does - but the more in that age-category are more likely.

Gotta draw the line somewhere - and so long as a child is purely *my* responsibility (16, 17, even 18) - they are covered by my insurance, considered my dependent and dependent on me for all their needs and basics in life then I feel that they are then incapable of 'consenting' - Sure, teens of that age might be able to grasp the issues . . . but with 'consent' comes many other things beyond "I can say yes to sex."

 

[Real Korimyr #9]

Gotta draw the line somewhere - and so long as a child is purely *my* responsibility (16, 17, even 18) - they are covered by my insurance, considered my dependent and dependent on me for all their needs and basics in life then I feel that they are then incapable of 'consenting' - Sure, teens of that age might be able to grasp the issues . . . but with 'consent' comes many other things beyond "I can say yes to sex."

Certainly. What I am saying is that the line needs to be drawn earlier, and for that matter, I think it should correspond with the age of legal adulthood which also needs to be drawn earlier. As long as the law holds you legally and financially responsible for the consequences of your child's actions, you should absolutely have total authority over those actions. What I am arguing, however, is not that minors should be allowed to have sex-- with or without their parents' permission-- but that young adults in their mid-teens should not be considered as minors at all. They should be held responsible for their own behaviors and for their own maintenance, and any assistance you provide in this regard should be voluntary. Your rules as a parent for the conduct of your adult offspring, living under your roof, are and should remain a separate issue from the law. The law does not distinguish between a young adult with the consent of his or her parents and one that is defying their authority, nor between an adult that lives with his or her parents and one that is independent.