Sex & Gender Age of sexual consent?

What do you think is the ideal age of sexual consent?

  • 12

    Votes: 3 6.1%

  • 13

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • 14

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • 15

    Votes: 6 12.2%

  • 16

    Votes: 16 32.7%

  • 17

    Votes: 3 6.1%

  • 18

    Votes: 11 22.4%

  • 19

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 20

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • 21

    Votes: 7 14.3%
  • Total voters
    49
17 seems about right. We can't say 13 is anymore right than 21, but the average of 13 and 21 creates a balance (which is 17). It works also for the ongoing debate of whether it should be 16 or 18, as 17 is the average of the two ages ;).

By 17 I mean legal age to do just about anything (vote, have sex, drink, smoke, gamble, join the military, ect.)
 
The age of consent is there to protect impressionable younger people from being taken advantage of by older people who will do/say anything to have sex with a minor.
 
But that kind of stuff does go a long way even before the first millenium. There is the obvious difference between the average 15 year old of today and the one from other times, like Middle Ages period or even the World War II period . Very different times.

Centuries ago, it was once quite common for girls being 12 to 16 years old to marry at a young age since the medicinal science was not advanced at that time and many women have limited lifespans. Also many men marry pretty late because they had to wait to inherit their fortunes first. That explains why the character Juliet was listed as 13 years old in Shakespearean work, Romeo & Juilet. You can hardly call him a pedophile when he was only showing the social norms centuries ago.

In the first millenium, Jewish maidens were considered marriageable at the age of twelve years and six months, though the actual age of the bride varied with circumstances. There are some debates that Virgin Mary may have been 15 or 16 years old when she gave birth to Jesus Christ.

Back in 1900, people rarely went to school after 13. Most teenagers at that time worked full time to support themselves and carried adult responsibilites. They acted like and were treated as adults. In maturity and responsibility level, the average 13 year old of 1900 would be equivalent to the average 20 year old in 2000. A 20 year old in 1900 would have the maturity and responsibilites of a 30 year old in the year 2000.

In 1948, a famous Country music singer named Loretta Lynn married a 21 year old man at the age of 13 years old. So Loretta was married when she was only 13. Four of their six children were born by the time Loretta was 18. She became a first-time grandmother at the age of 29.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0528750/bio

http://www.lorettalynn.com/bio/
 
Brooker said:
The age of consent is there to protect impressionable younger people from being taken advantage of by older people who will do/say anything to have sex with a minor.
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This is what it boils down to. Most teenagers cannot imagine how conniving and deceitful adults in their thirties and forties can be.
 
cicatriz esp said:
This is what it boils down to. Most teenagers cannot imagine how conniving and deceitful adults in their thirties and forties can be.
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I suppose, even many of those "conniving and deceitful adults in their thirties and forties" cannot imagine that either.
 
I think it should be 16, dercriminalize 14 and 15, but don't completely legalize it.
 
:blush: I adhere to the conservative attitude to this question - through real family mutual relations.Age from the moment of comprehension of as making future family and certainly sufficient sexual and psychological "maturing".:blush:
 
The age of consent in D.C., Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Alaska, Alabama, Vermont, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey, Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Nevada, etc is 16 for both girls and guys.

The age of consent in Illinois, New York, New Mexico, Kentucky and Texas is 17 for both guys and girls.

The age of consent in both Delaware and Florida is 16 for boys and 18 for girls

The age of consent in Iowa is 14 for boys and 16 for girls

The U.S. military's age of consent is 16 for both girls and guys.

the age of consent for boys in Missouri is 14 and Missouri's age of consent for the girls is 17.

Henceforth the average age of consent in the U.S. is 16.

Source: http://www.ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm
 
I will have to agree with Tsuyoiko on this issue. As a child and as a teenager I was always more mentally mature than my fellow classmates. I viewed the world a lot differently than they did. I was also more emotionally mature than my fellow classmates as well. However, sexually I was not and I knew that. There were many oppurtunities for me to have sex when I was younger, but turned them all down. Why? It was because I knew I could not handle such an emotional and physical act just quite yet.

I had a lot of growing up to do, and I understood that. Even now I have a lot to learn. I am 20 years old and I am still a virgin. I get mocked a lot in college, but I honestly don't care. Even at 20 there are people I know who are not mature enough to have sex, and I know I'm not too (I would much rather hit my nuts with a hammer than get emotionally and physically intimate with another person because I just cannot comprehend such an experience). I know students who screw around constantly, and end up messing themselves up in the end. It all depends on the emotional and mental age of the person. Most teenagers cannot comprehend that (and I know because a lot people I know screwed up their lives), and I think need to be taught properly in sexual education if you are going to get anywhere. However, that is just my opinion so take it for a grain of salt if you wish.

Doc :wave:
 
Rather alarmingly - in Canada I believe it is fourteen.

.... but you can't buy porn until you're at least eighteen!

I guess that there's no substitute for the real thing!

(Personally - I waited until I was 21 ..... not for the want of trying, though ....! :bluush: :bawling: )

?W????
 
:blush: In one "the ancient text" it has been written: "Cleanliness of thoughts,and as innocence() conducts the person to knowledge "trues of an instant of revelation" is the great sacrament hidden in the person,giving to him() freedom from "an infinite insatiable circle of search"...But for the modern people living in "the world vanities and chaos of feeling" ,in "the world vanities and chaos of ideas",overflown by all fabrications and theories - such way will by hardly interesting...
 
As someone pointed out there's really two questions here:

What age should people be doing it at, and what age should it be legal for them to do it at--because it's a safe bet that the majority aren't going to wait the full term.

Ironic really--the very lack of maturity that is the reason for such laws is also the reason they aren't effective.

Anyway, I voted twelve because it was the earliest age available.

Frankly, humans are all across the board here--I'm fairly sure I could've handled it a twelve...

...and I'm eaqually sure there are 40 year olds who aren't ready.

The problem is the violating the "age of consent" taboo will get you lynched--at least metaphoricaly and quite possibly literally. So it should be as low as possible.

Besides, people in the US are actually maturing physically at earlier ages now. (some say it's the beef hormones being passed in cow's milk)

I've practically sworn off women simply because I can't tell the differance between a 15 year old and a 20 year old with enough certainty to risk going through life a registered sex offender.

And frankly, you can't expect a curious kid to tell you the truth--and I refuse to be reduced to either carding my dates or going for obviously older women.

I guess that's one thing that really bugs me about the age of consent laws--such a big deal is made about ravening pedophiles, but no one stops to consider the danger the laws put normal people in. All it takes is one curious, well developed high school girl and a few lies to ruin a man's life forever.

(I say man's life because women are not often prosecuted for this unless the age differance is extreme.)

Anyway, I feel I've suffecienty defended myself for being one of only two people on this forum to vote "12", so I'll shut up now...
icon_sweatdrop.gif
 
I think 16 makes more sense, but that might be because I live in the U.S.
Currently the age is 18. At 16, you are able to earn your driver's liscence, and thus gain a significant amount of freedom in general.

I voted 16, since I only think it should remain 18 under the condition that certain other freedoms are allocated the age limit of 18. Since one is given a possibility of such freedom, it's going to be much more likely you will have sex. You also can't legally purchase and drink alcohol until you're 21 in the U.S., yet at 18 you can buy tobacco, die for your country, live on your own, and get married without parental conesnt. Isn't kind of silly to have married couples in the army that smoke cigarettes but aren't allowed to drink already? Why is it silly or perverted to allow sexual consent at the age of 16? 16yos aren't physically or mentally much different than 18yos.

The issue of the drinking age is more of a bigger deal to me than the age of consent, since it just doesn't make sense. I wouldn't touch a 16yo if it was legal anyway... I'm 28 friggin years old. lol
 
i think 16 is a good age. i wont lie to you i have had sex with a girl younger then that I being over 18. it was poor judgement on my part and i will never do it again, and i did almost go to jail for it.
 
thats where you went wrong dutch.. lol
 
In the USA, as I'm sure you know, the Age of Consent is 18.
There's a serious problem with the idea of the Age of Consent. Not everyone reaches maturity at the same age. Some reach it sooner and some later. Also no matter what the Age of Consent is teenagers are still going to lose their virginity at whatever age they wish, there's really nothing you can do about it. Most teenagers become seriously sexually active at about the of 15 but as I said before some sooner and some later.
The problem is no one's raising responsible teens who will use protection if they're having sex at that age. Their bodies are ready to be sexually active by they aren't and that's how you end up with teen abortions and an alarmingly high Age of Consent. Sometimes I think if teens had the choice to have sex or not a lot more would choose not, but because it's forbidden to them it makes it aluring and they want to sex just to be "bad" which is not healthy. It's really amazing what happens when you give teens a choice instead of just saying, "you can't!" the teenagers start actually making their own choices instead of just choosing one for only the reason of rebeling.
So the issue of the Age of Consent is very complex to me. I think it should be 15 not that I agree with all 15-yr-olds having sex but rather they deserve a choice. But parents need to make sure their children are educated about the dangers of un-protected sex, not just know about it but understand what can happen to you if you aren't responsible.
 
?傫???A?????J?l said:
I believe it should be 21, there are to many teen pregancies.
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you think that will stop the teen pregnacies?.. no
 
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