151 replies to this topic

[Rockhound]

NOTICE: this post does not advocate anything illegal.  This is purely for discussion alone.  A controversial topic, yeah, but one that needs to be addressed.  NO bragging please.

Each state has an age of consent, or a minimum age for a potential sex partner.  Here's a list state-by-state for the U.S.:
Alabama  16
Alaska 16
Arizona  18
Arkansas  16
California  18
Colorado  15
Connecticut 15
D.C.  16
Delaware 16
Florida  16/18 (bill pending)
Georgia 16
Hawaii 14
Idaho 14
Illinois 16/17
Indiana 16
Iowa 18
Kansas 16
Kentucky 16 - Age 16 if the man is 21 or older.
Louisiana 17
Maine 16
Maryland 16
Massachusetts 16/18
Michigan 16
Minnesota 16
Mississippi 16 - If the female is over 12, the status applies only to virgins.
Missouri 17
Montana 16
Nebraska 16
Nevada 16
New Hampshire 16/18
New Jersey 16/18
New Mexico 17
New York 17
North Carolina 16
North Dakota 18
Ohio 16
Oklahoma 16
Oregon 18
Pennsylvania 16
Rhode Island 16
South Carolina 14/16
South Dakota 16
Tennessee 18
Texas 17
Utah 16/18
Vermont 16
Virginia 15
Washington 16
West Virginia 16
Wisconsin 18
Wyoming 16
Puerto Rico 18

Well, there's the list.  Check your state, if you're American, and that's the age he/she's gotta be for some badda-bing.

Now let's be honest, with today's kids and their intense knowledge and practice of sex, they're having sex with each other.  What's the difference between having sex with someone their age or someone older?

Wait, you say: we have to protect them from the dangers of sex.  What dangers?  STD? They give it to each other.  Pregancy?  There's no difference between the sperm of a 16 year old boy and a 21 year old man.  What else? Psychological impact?  What psychological impact?  

And who sets these age limits anyway?  What's the difference between having sex with a 16 year old girl and having sex with a girl who's 15 and 364 days and 23 hours?  Does she suddenly become enlightened about sex in that final hour?

Now here's what I think.  Again, I'm not advocating anything illegal...I'm not saying "go out and hop some jailbait."  It's still illegal, and you can go to jail and be branded a sex offender for the rest of your life (for something relatively harmless; however, you can commit manslaughter, serve your time, and get out with few people the wiser).  This is just something to think about, folks.  IMHO, it should be legal to have sex with anyone who's attained puberty and is willing.

In fact, all girls, once they reach puberty, should be put on birth control.  C'mon, we innoculate them for crap they will probably never be exposed to, but it's out of the question to protect them from pregnancy?  One pill a day, that's it.  I hear about kids having sex at school, so you gotta be careful.  With today's birth control, our young men and women can be introduced to the pleasures of love at an early age  bythe more experienced and perhaps dodge the bizarre hangups that many of us adults have developed by waiting for so long.  Polynesian cultures did it all the time; it was expected for a young boy entering puberty to make the rounds with all the women of the village so they could teach him what a woman needs.

Oh, but they don't understand the ramifications of sex and must be protected?  Like all adults (or even half) have that same level of understanding.  I don't think so.

Discuss, if you will.

Edited for spelling snafu.

Edited by Rockhound, 09 November 2004 - 11:14 PM.

[JadziaDax]

BC makes you gain weight like mad. Not everyone would be so thrilled to go on it. I say we do something to the men girl's already gotta put up with periods.

[Rockhound]

I would agree, except that in the case of pregnancy, it's the girl that carries the child.  She's the recepticle and must deal with the implications.  Therefore the buck must stop there.

Good thinking though.

Edited by Rockhound, 09 November 2004 - 11:23 PM.

[Annibal]

Personally, I don't think most kids under the age of sixteen (at least! maybe eighteen) are ready to be responsible for that type of stuff. Mind you, I'm seventeen, and at my highschool I wouldn't trust the kids with a tricycle much less a car, and they get those. I just don't think that most are able to handle it with responsibility and maturity. (i'm talking about the women, here. I'm not even going to get started on guys...)

However, I don't like the whole statutory rape deal. It just punishes old folks for being stupid when it's a two person deal.

I mean, young ladies can choose to get abortions and kill a potential child but they can't legally consent to the act that got that baby there to begin with? makes no sense to me.

Sorry for the rambling, hope that made any sense at all.

[Rockhound]

No that makes sense, but let me ask a question: why would teenagers be less ready and mature to handle it then adults?  They're physically ready, obviously, and to compound that: how many people over the legal age are ready and mature enough?  <shrug>

Again, I point to the magic number and ask: what's so magical about that number?

Edited by Rockhound, 09 November 2004 - 11:39 PM.

[Natasha Bennett]

Hm, well I think that they need at least sixteen year's experience with life in general and understand the consequences of what they do before they go out and have sex. I mean, they might be physically mature but that doesn't mean that they're mentally mature or prepared for it. From a different standpoint, if someone aged fourteen has sex and gets pregnant, she would probably be better able to support herself financially if she was sixteen rathen then fourteen.

[Natasha Bennett]

A note or two on birth control

1) It can be expensive

2) People react differently to different brands. If you pick the wrong brand, the chemicals in it can make you depressant or worse.

3) It can be hazardous if used for long-term effects.

This is probably why people don't use it permanently once they reach the age.

edit to clarify: By long term, I mean ten or twenty years, not one or two years.

Edited by AndromedaAbyss, 09 November 2004 - 11:52 PM.

[Rockhound]

AndromedaAbyss, on Nov 9 2004, 10:43 PM, said:

Hm, well I think that they need at least sixteen year's experience with life in general and understand the consequences of what they do before they go out and have sex. I mean, they might be physically mature but that doesn't mean that they're mentally mature or prepared for it.

Why 16?  Why not 13?

Quote

From a different standpoint, if someone aged fourteen has sex and gets pregnant, she would probably be better able to support herself financially if she was sixteen rathen then fourteen.

Doing what?  Who's going to hire a 16 year old pregnant girl for decent wages?  She'd be in some sweatshop maybe.

Besides, I remedied the pregnancy thing for you above.  Not totally foolproof, sure, but nothing is.

Again, no one has yet to really convince me most adults are more responsible about sex than the average 14 year old girl simply by virtue of age.

[darthsikle]

uggghhh, as a parent of three daughters, one of whom is 14, this thread is disgusting

[Rockhound]

AndromedaAbyss, on Nov 9 2004, 10:50 PM, said:

A note or two on birth control

1) It can be expensive

So can babies.  Let's lower the age and regulate what's already going on by providing BC.

Quote

2) People react differently to different brands. If you pick the wrong brand, the chemicals in it can make you depressant or worse.

So what's the percentages on that?  I don't know, so I'm asking.

Quote

3) It can be hazardous if used for long-term effects.

Can? Or is?

Quote

This is probably why people don't use it permanently once they reach the age.

I have no reply to that.  

[Delvo]

In a way, it's the same with the laws about driving ages, drinking ages, and the age at which you can legally use the meat slicer at Arby's. Of course there's no magic number, and nobody's really saying there is, but laws have to be written in a universally applicable way, lest the government get into the business of judging everyone's maturity individually.

Also, sex age laws aren't even really about whether or not they're old enough to handle it; they're about preventing children from being victims of manipulation by perverts.

And if you're going to put in a no-bragging disclaimer, then floating such a perfect setup for it as this:

Quote

What's the difference between having sex with a 16 year old girl and having sex with a girl who's 15 and 364 days and 23 hours? Does she suddenly become enlightened about sex in that final hour?

...is just not fair.

Edited by Delvo, 09 November 2004 - 11:59 PM.

[Rockhound]

darthsikle, on Nov 9 2004, 10:53 PM, said:

uggghhh, as a parent of three daughters, one of whom is 14, this thread is disgusting

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why?  What makes you think she's not going to be having sex within a couple of years, if not already?

[Rockhound]

Delvo, on Nov 9 2004, 10:57 PM, said:

In a way, it's the same with the laws about driving ages, drinking ages, and the age at which you can legally use the meat slicer at Arby's. Of course there's no magic number, and nobody's really saying there is, but laws have to be written in a universally applicable way, lest the government get into the business of judging everyone's maturity individually.

I agree, except: this is a universal matter that's arbitrarily judged based upon antiquated ideals.  Laws should be changed to reflect what augments society.

Quote

Also, sex age laws aren't even really about whether or not they're old enough to handle it; they're about preventing children from being victims of manipulation by perverts.

And they wouldn't be manipulated if they were taught what to expect and be able to decide through experience.

[Natasha Bennett]

Can't really repeat quotes that well, but I'm responding to RockHound's last post

It is pretty common for fourteen year olds to not be working so the money comes from the parents. Birth Control pills are at least twenty to thirty bucks for one month's worth and since most parents think that there fourteen-year-old daughter isn't going to have sex in the first place (hopeful optomism there!) they won't pay for that.  

Unfortunately, I don't know the percentage of people who have side effects but I believe that it is pretty common to have at least some sort of chemical change. Need to do some reasearch on that before I have a more definite answer.

Oh, and there's another issue-would a fourteen-year old child have more complications during pregnancy then a sixteen-year-old? I think she would but again, not certain.

Edited by AndromedaAbyss, 10 November 2004 - 12:10 AM.

[eryn]

Rockhound: You realize that some girls reach puberty at the age of 8 now right? Do you really propose to put them on birth control until the "right" age? Besides isn't that just a tad illegal?

Sorry but I'm not doing that to my daughter.

[Annibal]

Well, on the maturity thing, based on my own personal experience younger people are typically more goofy and think less about consequences, good or bad, of their actions. I guess it would be a sort of "older and wiser" philosophy, which I don't always agree with, but in this case I do. I dunno, it might just be because I'm scared of the thought of my classmates reproducing. Sometimes it seems like they have the collective IQ of a rock.

[Annibal]

Oh, and according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the youngest parents were around the ages of seven and eight, or eight and nine. So should the age of consent really be as low as when they're able?

It could also be a hazard to younger people's health. Smaller girls, as in thinner hips, would have more trouble in pregnancy if that occured.

[Lord of the Sword]

Rockhound, on Nov 9 2004, 11:23 PM, said:

I would agree, except that in the case of pregnancy, it's the girl that carries the child.  She's the recepticle and must deal with the implications.  Therefore the buck must stop there.

Good thinking though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know some women that would hande you your tongue if you said that to them...LOL.

As for lowering the consent age...I'd be against it.

You're talking about teenagers here. People who are, for the most part, NOT very responsible.

[Godeskian]

I think very few people in this thread are giving young people enough credit.

and I think that's all i'll say on this topic to avoid giving offense.

[Bad Wolf]

In answer to the original question: are you talking about lowering the age of consent for purposes of things like statutory rape laws?